Banks and faceless vulture funds

union is locally managed and run, so no diktat from head office is going to decide what direction the local branch takes.

And in an era when bank managers appear to have lost the power to make real decisions, it was heartening to hear local branch managers in Clare tell me the person the customer meets at the branch is more than likely the one that will be the decision maker.

With 3.1 million members in the Republic alone, Ireland has one of the highest levels of credit union membership anywhere in the world, which makes that opening question as to why farmers don’t use credit unions all the more perplexing.

The irony deepens when you juxtapose farmers’ constant requirement for finance with the credit unions’ biggest current challenge: finding a good use for all the money they have on account.

Credit union members are sitting on an eye-watering €16bn of savings, with not much more than 25pc of this being used for lending purposes. Recent studies on the sustainability of credit unions point to the urgent need for these local savings to be used for lending purposes. At the moment, credit unions are being charged by the lovely pillar banks for the privilege of putting members’ cash on deposit.

If these local savings co-ops can’t reverse the situation and get money back out earning its way in loans, more are going to have to close their doors or merge with their nearest neighbour.

This is why the Cultivate package of farm loans spearheaded by ex-Teagasc Galway CAO Brendan Heneghan is so important. It has resulted in over €3.5m being loaned out to 350 farmers in Galway alone during the first nine months of its existence. The project is now being rolled out in east Clare with plans for Cork and elsewhere.

With an APR of 6.75pc and a limit of up to €50,000, the loans are very competitive compared to the other main banks.

No security is required and decisions on loans are available within three days, which is in stark contrast to the hoops and delays many farmers have experienced when looking for money elsewhere.

But possibly the biggest benefit is the least tangible. By doing business with a credit union, farmers are also investing in the fabric and economic vitality of their locality. It’s a grassroots co-op ethos and it’s this more than any government plan or subsidy that will keep rural regions strong and thriving into the future.