Paul Hume
Committee Supervisor ILCU
Paul has been a member of the Board of Letterkenny Credit Union for the past 15 years, and also the nephew of John Hume, one of the driving forces for the establishment of the credit union movement in Ireland and a founding member of Derry Credit Union in 1960, Northern Ireland's first credit union. John Hume became the youngest ever President of the ILCU aged 27 years. In 2001, John was made a Life Director of the ILCU.
What do you think is the greatest contribution that credit unions make?
I think that the credit union is the greatest movement for social justice that Ireland has ever seen. It lifted many people of our parents’ generation out of the poverty trap and gave them a line of credit previously unavailable. As such it transformed the lives of many people throughout the country and gave them a quality of life previously unthought of. This has continued in terms of the provision of additional services such as mortgages and current accounts.
As an ILCU Board / Supervisory Committee member, what do you hope to achieve during your term?
In terms of what I hope to achieve I want to assist the credit union to continue to reach out to non-members in terms of educating them as to the benefits of credit union membership. I would also love to see the Northwest of our beautiful country considered for holding the ILCU AGM at some point.
If you were Minister of State for Credit Unions, what one change would you make?
If I were Minister of State for Credit Union's, I would start the process to level the playing field between the mainstream banks and the credit unions. At the minute the banks have a degree of advantage over the credit unions in terms of lending rules and that needs to be addressed. I would also work with credit unions in terms of using our vast resources to assist with our housing crisis.
Contact phume@creditunion.ie