ECONOMY Minister Conor Murphy joined volunteers and staff of SAG Credit Union in Andersonstown to mark six decades of providing affordable financial services to local families and small businesses.
Founded in 1964 by a group of local people, SAG Credit Union has grown from serving 29 members to over 16,000 today, while maintaining its core mission of providing accessible banking services to the community.
Economy Minister Conor Murphy said: "The Credit Union movement across Ireland plays a major role within local communities and our wider regional economy. Credit Unions exemplify the principle of neighbours helping neighbours and the movement has worked tirelessly in support of local communities in the north for more than 60 years.
"The success of SAG Credit Union, and its phenomenal growth in membership and lending, stands testament to the dedication of the SAG team and its volunteers. That success is echoed across countless towns and villages where credit unions can be found at the heart of the communities that they serve.”
The Minister heard how SAG’s unwavering commitment to its membership had helped thousands of local residents avoid high-cost lenders. In the last 12 months alone, the credit union provided over £15 million in affordable loans to members living in the Andersonstown and Poleglass areas.
He also enjoyed hearing from staff about how SAG Credit Union has been giving back to its members and the community by donating to local causes, holding social events such as a Swinging Sixties Night, and running a series of competitions that support local businesses as part of its 60th birthday.
FÁILTE: Left-to-right; Martin Fisher, Irish League of Credit Unions; Marcella McNeill, chairperson of the Board of Directors at SAG Credit Union; Economy Minister Conor Murphy; and Sheena Joyce, SAG Credit Union manager
“We're proud to have spent 60 years putting our members first," explained Sheena Joyce, SAG Credit Union Manager. “They can borrow anything from £50 to £50,000 for everything from covering living expenses to booking that once-in-a-lifetime holiday. Local people rely on us so we know that we can’t afford to stand still and we will continue to adapt our services so we can meet the evolving needs of our members.”
The Minister is a strong supporter of the credit union movement. In March he spoke at the launch of the Irish League of Credit Unions’ manifesto and outlined his commitment to seeing credit unions grow through the establishment of a dedicated team to update legislation, invest in digital technology and incentivising lending for sustainable projects.
During his visit, Minister Murphy met with members who shared stories of how the credit union helped them achieve their financial goals – from buying their first car to sending children to university. He also emphasised his Department’s continued support for the credit union movement, noting their crucial role in promoting financial inclusion and building community wealth.
Speaking afterwards Conor Murphy said he was delighted to have visited SAG Credit Union on its sixtieth birthday.
"Credit unions are a fundamental building block of communities," he added. "They are not just financial institutions, they are community organisations which know the communities that they work with. They support people, they are a lifeline to an awful lot of people during difficult times and they reinvestment everything back into the community because they have that ethos.
"I was very keen when I was Finance Minister to get discussions going and to see where we could support credit unions in the broad financial space. We made sure that they were part of any discussions that we had with banks and others that credit unions were given their place in relation to that. Now, that I’m in Economy we still have that function to continue to work with them but obviously Caoimhe Archibald (Finance Minister) will work with them and together we hope to allow them to grow in the way they need to grow and give them the support where they need to do that.
"There are strategies being worked on, there is dialogue ongoing with people from the Irish League of Credit Unions and the Ulster Federation of Credit Unions, so we’re trying to work through strategies with them to make sure that people recognise what they do, and that the challenges they face we are there to support them meeting them."
