In total, 51 amendments have been made to the Bill since its publication in December 2022. While the majority of those were technical amendments clarifying and refining the language of the Credit Union Act 1997, two key amendments were to section 35, which allows credit unions to take part in loan participation and loan syndication, and to section 51A, which allows credit unions to refer members to other credit unions in all circumstances regardless of whether the referring credit union provides the services the me…

The amendments in this group, namely, amendments Nos. 15 and 17, relate to sections 17 and 67. They will assist credit unions in modernising their membership approval processes.

The amendments in this group address the issue of changes to the nominations processes and to the processes for small payments on death. These are important changes to the Bill as originally published. Members will be very familiar with the nomination procedure. The two changes here are an increase in the nomination limit from €23,000 to €27,000 and a tightening of the process around that. We are now requiring that it be in line with the procedure for making a will. It has to be witnessed by two witnesses, neither …

This grouping inserts a new section 51A that allows for the referral of a member to another credit union, regardless of whether the referring credit union provides the service the member is seeking. This is absolutely core to the operation of the new Bill. What we are trying to do is increase the financial services provided to people all over this country, irrespective of where they live, be that a very rural or very urban area, and irrespective of whether their local credit union is large or small or whether it wa…

The latter is exactly what is proposed. Rather than forcing smaller credit unions to provide mortgages or current accounts in a way that may not suit them, because they may not step into that risk profile, the member of that credit union can and should be referred to another credit union that offers those services and becomes a member of that credit union specifically for the purpose of accessing that financial service, whether it is a mortgage or another service. They will also remain a member of the original cred…

Yes, the purpose is about referring members rather than changing the common bond.

This is about empowering the credit union boards to better manage their own governance to allow them to focus and concentrate on strategy and development rather than detailed operational matters. This grouping addresses the following issues: organisational matters regarding the delivery of notices of meetings, documents, annual accounts and the calling of meetings; a quorum for a general meeting of a corporate credit union; the minimum number of members of a corporate credit union; and technical amendments to the f…

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the people involved in this collaborative piece of work: my predecessor, the Minister for State, Deputy Sean Fleming, who introduced the Bill into this House; and my officials on the credit union policy team, Catherine and Miriam in particular, who have done extraordinary work on this. I also thank the representative bodies - the ILCU; CUDA; the Credit Union Mangers’ Association, CUMA; the National Supervisors Forum, NSF; and the staff on the Registry of Credit …

They are attacks on the IRA, attacks on Sinn Féin's support for the IRA and attacks on Sinn Féin's commemoration of the IRA.

They are not getting it from you either.

You would know that.

We look down on what you do.

You harass and cause problems for gardaí. That is not what we do.

How is broadband in Limerick these days?

I thank Deputy Shanahan for bringing this legislation forward. It is an enormous amount of work to bring forward a Private Members' Bill. I am well aware of that. The level of dedication, commitment and work with the parliamentary legal advisers and the drafting team is some amount of work for a Deputy and his or her team. I thank him and acknowledge that. It is important that we have this debate. I thank Deputies for their contributions on the Second Stage of this Bill. I would like to make a number of points. As …

-----sustainable technician jobs 12 months per year. These high-value jobs would sustain the industry there and would give this island an opportunity, as its population continues to grow, to be rebalanced in terms of spatial planning, in terms of the economy and in terms of being rebalanced away from Dublin. As a Dublin TD it is strategically in my interests to limit the growth of a city on a coast and to make sure that balanced regional development happens elsewhere. The single most important investment that has b…

A vulnerable person.

She just did.

No.

Yes.