Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 November 2006
231 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Finance if he has received correspondence from the Credit Union Development Association; his views on establishing a task force of key stakeholders with the objective of determining the legislative, regulatory and consumer protection framework required to assure the future of credit unions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39569/06]
View answerI am aware of the report referred to by the Deputy and welcome all contributions to the debate regarding the future development of the credit union movement. The Deputy should note, however, that many of the recommendations contained in the report are addressed to the credit union movement itself. My specific role as Minister for Finance is to ensure that the legal framework for credit unions continues to be appropriate for the effective operation and supervision of credit unions.
As the Deputy may be aware the case for modernising the regulatory framework for credit unions has been raised by both the Registrar of Credit Unions and the representative bodies for credit unions, including the body referred to by the Deputy. It is important that there is a clear shared understanding on how a new regulatory framework would operate, before moving to develop particular proposals. In this context, I wrote to the Chair of the Financial Regulator earlier this year recommending that the Financial Regulator engages with the credit union movement, in the first instance, to identify common ground in relation to a set of principles that could guide the development of an updated regulatory framework for credit unions. The Chair of the Financial Regulator has indicated the Authority's willingness to move forward on this basis. The proposals in the report referred to by the Deputy represent an important input into the process, insofar as they relate to the modernisation of the regulation of credit unions.
As far as the appropriate consumer protection framework for credit unions is concerned, the Financial Regulator has included an initiative in its recently published three-year Strategic Plan to consult credit unions on an appropriate consumer protection framework for its members, in respect of their core business, with the objective of commencing the consultation process in 2007.
The question of establishing the structure referred to in the Deputy's question does not therefore arise at this time.
