Hundreds of people filed through the lobby of the Radisson Blu Hotel on Tuesday evening to cast their votes on the motion of no confidence lodged by 71 concerned members of Athlone Credit Union.
Last week, Athlone Credit Union wrote to its members to inform them that a special general meeting would take place, after being requested by a number of members.
The letter included the request by the concerned members for a vote of no confidence in the current board, “for failing to fulfill their functions as laid down in Section 55 of Credit Union Act 1997 (as amended )”.
The letter also contained the board’s response to the request of a vote of no confidence, encouraging members to attend the meeting and vote against it.
Two other reasons were given by the members for the calling of a special general meeting. In the first instance, the meeting was intended to clarify “the nature and extent of the outstanding regulatory issues in Athlone Credit Union Limited which are preventing the holding of the AGM of Athlone Credit Union Limited resulting in non approval and payments of dividends to members and leading to the creation of reputational risk”.
Secondly, the meeting was intended to raise concerns regarding the governance of Athlone Credit Union.
The board said in the letter that it believes there are no grounds for proposing the vote of no confidence, and that it would go against the best interests of the Credit Union if that vote was passed. Following an open ballot, the motion was defeated by a margin of 178 to 101.
Chair of Athlone Credit Union, Alan MacNeice, reiterated the reason for a delay in calling the AGM, citing advice from the Central Bank regarding “high level concerns” that needed to be resolved before the calling of any meeting.
He assured members that the board were working on resolving these issues, and that it had acted in the best interests of their members during the entire process.
