The Supreme Court has awarded costs in favour of the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) following an unsuccessful case taken by the Competition Authority.
In May, the court rejected an action brought by the Competition Authority alleging anti-competitive practices relating to the ILCU's voluntarily funded Savings Protection Scheme (SPS) for its members.
ILCU chief executive Liam O'Dwyer said "millions of euro" had been wasted as a result of the Competition Authority's decision to pursue the case.
"On two occasions prior to the initial High Court action, the ILCU requested the Competition Authority to withhold its proceedings so that the ILCU could pursue the development of a revised SPS with the Financial Regulator as instructed by its members," he said.
"The Competition Authority refused and significant time and millions of euro have been wasted as a result."
Mr O'Dwyer said the ILCU "fully subscribes to the aims and objects of competition law which is to ensure that the welfare of the consumer is protected".
"It is hard to imagine an organisation more aligned with the concept of consumer welfare than a credit union - since each credit union is actually owned and run by its own members for their own benefit and that of their community."
Rejecting the case last May, the Supreme Court said the Competition Authority "failed to provide a convincing analysis of ILCU's activities as being anti-competitive".
ICLU head of legal affairs John O'Halloran said that an allegation of anti-competitive behaviour against an organisation is a very serious one.
"That the Competition Authority can make such allegations without having quantitative evidence to support them and without being in a position to produce factual evidence to substantiate such a claim is wholly unsatisfactory," he said.
The ILCU represents 525 credit unions on the island of Ireland, representing €13.3 billion in savings and €15.1 billion in assets.