MLAs stress Derry’s contribution to credit union movement as reforms progress 66 years after foundation
Pádraig Delargy has reminisced about being first introduced to the work of the Credit Union in Derry when a local stalwart of the institution visited his primary school class when he was a pupil in the 2000s.
“My first memory of the credit union is a visit by Mary Crumley, the then education officer at Derry Credit Union, to St. Eugene's Primary School when I was in primary 7.
"She made the complex world of finance literally seem like child's play, as she used board games and interactive tools not only to teach 10- and 11-year-olds the importance of saving but to teach us that it was within our ability to aspire to the best,” the Sinn Féin MLA recalled during a debate in the Stormont Assembly.
He said Ms. Crumley told the young pupils that ‘any of us could start a business, buy our first car and use the credit union's services as a springboard to achieve what we wanted’.
"She used a strong community initiative to teach young people in the Derry community about global financial services and to tell us that we could compete internationally and deserved to do so,” he said.
SDLP MLA Sinéad McLaughlin reminded MLAs of the proud history of the Derry institution that co-founder John Hume said was his proudest achievement.
"The credit union movement has a very special place in the history of my home city of Derry and, indeed, the history of the SDLP. In October 1960, six people came together in Derry to establish the first credit union in Northern Ireland.
"Among them was a very young John Hume, who was 23 years old at the time. They recognised that ordinary, working-class people were being denied access to financial services that many others took for granted and that many of us take for granted today.
"Families who needed to borrow money to furnish their homes, provide for their children or meet an unexpected expense had little choice but to turn to moneylenders,” she said.
Mrs. McLaughlin was referring to Seamus Bonner, George Coyle, Paddy Joe Doherty, Paddy ‘Bogside’ Doherty and Eileen Doherty who, all in their twenties, decided to introduce financial co-operativism into Derry 66 years ago.
"They pooled their savings — just £8 and 10 shillings — and established the Derry Credit Union. From those very modest beginnings, the credit union movement grew into something that was to make an enormous difference to families and communities across this island.
“It is worth remembering that, despite everything that John Hume went on to achieve in his life, including the Nobel Peace Prize and his contribution to securing peace on this island, he regarded establishing the credit union as the achievement of which he was proudest,” the SDLP MLA observed.
The Derry Credit Union was the first of its kind in the North. In Ireland it was predated only by the Donore Credit Union in Dublin (founded 1958), and the Clones Credit Union (founded 1959).
Both MLAs were speaking in support of Stormont’s Credit Unions (Amendment) Bill that Economy Minister Dr. Caoimhe Archibald says will modernise the services that credit unions provide.
It will, said the minister, enable ‘specified additional financial activities, including conditional sale, hire purchase and insurance distribution’.
The Bill will also allows referrals between credit unions and wider collaboration on and participation in loans; permits charges to be made for ancillary services and provide a power to prescribe further activities and conditions.
Other measures include setting 18 as the minimum age for full membership, with ‘transitional protection for existing members and applications, while retaining age-appropriate savings arrangements for younger people’.
Dr. Archibald told the Assembly: “Taken together, these reforms will reduce unnecessary constraints, support sustainable development and maintain appropriate protections for members, savers and the wider sector.
"They do not alter the fundamental character of credit unions; they reinforce it by ensuring that these cooperative member-owned institutions can adapt to a changing financial and social landscape.”
Mr. Delargy said: “I am a proud lifelong member of Derry Credit Union, which is located on Abbey Street. It now offers mortgages, because it recognised that, for many people in our community, homeownership seemed like a far-off dream. Once again, the credit union stepped into a space to deliver affordable and accessible opportunities to people in Derry and further afield.
"Credit unions play a key role in our communities, and we all know the positive services that they have provided to many people over many years. The Bill presents an opportunity to modernise the legislation to allow credit unions to develop their services to meet the changing needs of members and communities.”
Mrs. McLaughlin said she supported the principles of the Bill but hoped the minimum age clause can be examined further at Committee stage.
"While I recognise that young people can still save with the credit union without being full members, I am interested to understand the rationale for removing the ability of 17-year-olds to become full members,” said the SDLP MLA.
She again reiterated Derry’s unique contribution to credit unionism in Ireland.
“The credit union movement began in Derry with six people who believed that they could make life better for those around them. Sixty-six years later, the principles that motivated them remain every bit as important.
"I want to see credit unions continue to grow, develop and serve their members while retaining the community ethos that has made them so successful. I hope that that is what the legislation will achieve. I support the principles of the Bill and look forward to working on it and giving it further scrutiny in Committee,” she declared.