I move amendment No. 1: In page 5, to delete lines 23 and 24 and substitute the following: “3. Section 2 of the Principal Act is amended, in subsection (1)— (a) in the definition of “officer”, in paragraph (a), by the insertion of “a member of the appellate body referred to in section 37,” after “a member of the board oversight committee,”, (b) by the insertion of the following definitions:”.

No. As far as possible, at every turn, it is about enabling. This is a clarification amendment that was sought by the credit unions. It is for the purposes of clarification more than anything else.

I move amendment No. 2: In page 11, to delete line 15. The amendment is grouped with all the amendments in group one. As raised on Committee Stage, these are amendments to section 67 and related amendments to section 17 of the principal Act that will assist credit unions in modernising their membership review and approval processes. These amendments will allow each credit union board to approve new processes for membership approval and remove the need for manual authorisation by the membership committee. That commi…

I move amendment No. 3: In page 11, to delete line 34 and substitute the following: “within that category.”, and (k) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (8): “(9) A credit union shall— (a) in the case of a credit union registered before the commencement of section 9(k) of the Credit Union (Amendment) Act 2023 , not later than 6 months after such commencement, and (b) in the case of a credit union registered after such commencement, not later than 6 months after its registration, put in pla…

I move amendment No. 4: In page 15, to delete lines 15 to 24 and substitute the following: “ “(d) in accordance with a loan approval process which has been approved by the board of directors.”,”. The amendment is grouped with all the amendments in group two. As referred to on Committee Stage, these are amendments to section 36 and a related amendment to section 37 of the principal Act which give credit unions greater choice and flexibility regarding loan approval processes. Section 37 provides an expanded appeals p…

Amendment No. 4 relates to a loan approval process that has been approved by the board of directors. In the past, credit unions had to spend too much time reviewing and affirming processes that are straightforward, which had to be approved by a physical board at every turn. That is too onerous for a board of directors, especially where we are trying to encourage more volunteers, streamline the processes, and make it a more professionally enabled organisation to be run by a CEO. Again, this is not about prohibiting …

Amendment No. 4 is to specifically deal with loan approval processes. We are trying to do something similar with membership approval processes and loan approval processes. Each amendment is slightly different. Amendment No. 4 is in accordance with the loan approval process.

I move amendment No. 5: In page 15, to delete line 28 and substitute the following: “20. Section 37 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1): “(1) If an application for a loan which was considered— (a) by the credit committee, (b) by a credit officer, or (c) in accordance with a loan approval process referred to in section 36(2)(d), was not approved under section 36, the applicant may appeal to an appellate body which, by a decision of such members of t…

I move amendment No. 6: In page 20, to delete lines 33 to 37, and in page 21, to delete lines 1 to 14 and substitute the following: “(a) in subsection (1), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (c): “(c) a membership committee which shall determine applications for membership of the credit union that have been rejected under a process referred to in section 17(9);”, and (b) by the deletion of subsection (3).”.

I move amendment No. 7: In page 29, to delete lines 2 to 8 and substitute the following: “67. The First Schedule to the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph 12:”. The amendment is grouped with all the amendments in group three. The amendment to the First Schedule is a technical amendment deleting paragraph 6A. The amendment to the Sixth Schedule is a technical amendment deleting paragraph 6 and allowing for the renumbering of subsequent paragraphs. I can go through t…

I move amendment No. 8: In page 29, to delete lines 31 to 33.

This was an amendment to section 67 which was no longer needed because it was dealt with by an amendment to section 17. It is simply a tidying up and rebalancing. There were a number of matters the Deputy asked me about on Committee Stage, which I will be happy to address on Fifth Stage if he wishes.

I will, if that is okay. I thank the Deputy for his support on the passage of this Bill. I know he acknowledges the importance of it to the sector. The sector is very encouraged by the broad support in the House for the credit union sector and for legislation that will enable it to provide much more support and financial services to the people of Ireland. This is very significantly amending legislation and I know the Deputy and I both hope to see its implementation. We will be supervising that through CUAC and tryi…

He asked me about the oversight by the Oireachtas of the Minister in setting the maximum interest rate in the legislation. We had a very good discussion about that on Committee Stage. I would point out that there are a number of safeguards in section 38 that replicate similar provisions for ministers for finance in other areas in relation to the setting of rates or levies generally. Importantly, the Minister would have to consult with CUAC before setting the maximum rate. The Minister must also take account of a nu…

He raised the effect of that on credit unions. Just this week I met the two deputy governors of the Central Bank. I raised the need to perform timely reviews with them and said I was concerned that the review period was migrating towards five years between the establishment of the regulations and having the review. I have also made this view very clear and plain to the Governor of the Central Bank. It is important that there are timely reviews. It is not acceptable that it takes a very long time to gather data befo…

I move amendment No. 9: In page 29, line 34, to delete “7. Determination” and substitute the following: “6. Determination”.

I move amendment No. 10: In page 29, line 36, to delete “8. Provision” and substitute the following: “7. Provision”.

I move amendment No. 11: In page 30, line 1, to delete “9. The” and substitute the following: “8. The”.

I move amendment No. 12: In page 30, line 4, to delete “10. Provision” and substitute the following: “9. Provision”.

I move amendment No. 13: In page 30, line 5, to delete “11. Provision” and substitute the following: “10. Provision”.