Sir, – In light of the fact that the credit union sector was the only major credit provider to avoid collapse in the financial crisis, perhaps your editorial writer (February 13th) would care to revisit the statement that "inadequate regulation" of the sector existed prior to the crisis.
You may wish to note that as registrar, I specifically forbade and prevented credit unions from engaging in mortgage lending contrary to the provisions of section 35 of the then Credit Union Act, 1997.
I also opposed attempts by credit union lobbyists and other interests to have the protective provisions of this section amended to allow for mortgage lending. These actions prevented the collapse of the sector.
I vigorously opposed reckless lending and investing in the sector and sanctioned it within the powers available to me at the time. With regard to your remarks about Newbridge Credit Union Ltd, you may wish to note that the collapse of this credit union, the only one to have required a rescue, was caused by the refusal of the credit union to comply with regulatory oversight rather than because of “inadequate regulation”. It was for this reason that a special manager was appointed to take control of the credit union in a final, but ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to save it.
In the interests of fairness and accuracy I trust that you will now correct and retract the statement about “inadequate regulation” in your editorial, which represents an unjustified criticism of me and my colleagues in our regulatory efforts in the period leading up to the crisis. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN F LOGUE,
Julianstown,
Co Meath.