Credit Unions
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-26
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Tony McCormack (FF), Offaly

I thank the Minister of State. Credit unions have also been given greater capacity to grow, as he said, including the ability to lend over 30% of their assets in long-term lending. However, business lending still remains a relatively small part of the overall market, with approximately €190 million currently in SME and business lending. There is clearly potential for further growth in this area, as the Minister of State said, particularly for small businesses and local enterprise seeking relationship-based finance. At the same time, one of the real strengths of the credit union movement is that while credit unions continues to modernise and adopt new technologies, people can still walk into a local branch, sit down face to face and discuss financial matters with someone who understands their circumstances but also, most important, understands the community they come from. Does the Minister of State believe there is scope for further support, collaboration and shared service models within the credit union movement in order that the sector can continue expanding responsible while maintaining that trusted local presence?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-26