Special meeting to be held by Credit Union

A Special General Meeting of the Tallaght & District Credit Union has been organised for Wednesday, July 2, following tensions between members and the Board of Directors.

According to former worker and manager at Tallaght CU, Sean Christian, over 60 signatures for a SGM were collected among members.

“Some of the long-experienced Credit Union people who are members of Tallaght & District CU are not happy with the current situation,” he said, mentioning a lack of “experience” and engagement within the Board.

“Three Senior Directors resigned since last December, and we had the first Annual General Meeting without the Chairman in 60 years, as he was in Australia,” said Sean.

“At Tallaght & District Credit Union, we take all allegations of this nature very seriously,” said Damien Hutchinson, CEO of the Tallaght & District Credit Union in a statement to The Echo.

“While a group has indeed petitioned for a Special General Meeting (SGM), they have not yet provided specific details about their concerns.

“We are actively seeking clarity from them to better understand the concerns that they have and their reason for proposing a vote of no confidence in our Board. To date we have had no response.”

When the group was informed that a SGM was going to take place in July via Zoom, their disappointment grew.

In a letter to the CU signed by John Raethorne, they announced that they won’t be attending as they believe an online meeting is not suitable to discuss the matter.

“We feel it is a cynical attempt to exclude the large number of our members who have no access to a laptop computer or webcam,” read the letter.

“Zoom meetings were introduced during Covid when large gatherings were impossible, but now we feel it is being used as a method to exclude members.

“[They] do not allow any kind of discourse as they are very tightly controlled. The opportunity to ask questions is there but the chance to challenge the answers and follow up is not.

“We stand by our original request for a SGM to be held in person.”

“The SGM was convened at significant cost to our members,” responded Mr Hutchinson.

“The decision on the most appropriate medium for the SGM, whether virtual or in-person, is reserved for the Board of Directors, as stipulated by our rules and relevant legislation.

‘Our Board always strives to consider the needs and preferences of our entire membership when making such decisions.

“We understand and appreciate that there are varied opinions on virtual versus in-person meetings. Many of our members find virtual meetings more accessible and convenient, which is a key factor in our decision-making process.”

Speaking about the recent merger with Firhouse CU, the members who requested the SGM said they have no issue with it, and that they rather welcomed it.

“Our grave concerns are around the governance of our Credit Union, as all Credit Unions are owned and controlled by all their members, for their members,” read their letter.

The Credit Union CEO concluded, “I wish to reassure all members that the Board of Tallaght & District Credit Union have always acted in the best interests of the members, and this was independently verified by third party auditors as part of the due diligence process for the recent merger with Firhouse Credit Union earlier this year.

“The board have actively overseen unprecedented growth in Tallaght & District Credit Union, underpinned by the recent merger.

‘Our loan book has been growing steadily year after year, we have returned to paying a distribution back to all members in the last two years and have expanded our product offering to all members. We remain, very much in a growth position and the board are a key part of each and every decision made.”