Following the resignation of six members of the board of Gurranabraher Credit Union in Cork city, and the removal of a seventh, the Registrar of Friendly Societies, Mr Noel Martin Sisk, has indicated his investigation into the activities of the credit union will continue.
Following a marathon extraordinary general meeting which began at 7.30 p.m. on Monday and finished at 2 a.m. yesterday, the new board of the credit union, which includes the outgoing chairman, Mr Con O'Leary, who is responsible for bringing in the registrar, is faced with implementing more than 200 recommendations contained in a report which Mr Sisk presented to the meeting.
The report deals with bullying and the proper behaviour of members at board meetings; the question of directors' expenses being unreceipted; and the fact that a financial adviser, Mr Damien Wallace, a former lord mayor of Cork and son of the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government, Mr Dan Wallace, was paid £95,000 in consultancy fees for investing £3 million of credit union money.
Mr Wallace was appointed without other tenders being sought by the credit union. The registrar suggested that if board members had sought other quotations, the money might have been invested at cheaper commission rates. During the meeting Mr Sisk said Mr Wallace's fees appeared to be "excessive".
Mr Wallace was unavailable for comment yesterday.
Before Monday's meeting Mr Sisk had asked seven members of the 12-member board to tender their resignations by last Thursday.
By Monday night six of the board including three supervisors had resigned.
They were Mr William Martin, Mr Patrick Sheehan, Mr Anthony Buttimer, Ms Dolores Kelleher (supervisor), Mr Adrian Coleman (supervisor) and Ms Kathleen Mackey (supervisor).
The seventh, Mr Daniel F. Collins, had not tendered his resignation, and Mr Sisk used his powers of registrar to remove him. He told the meeting he had done so with regret.
Mr Sisk assured the 15,000 members of Gurranabraher Credit Union that their investments were safe and the credit union was in no financial difficulty.
He said the law had not been broken. While there has been no Garda involvement in the credit union investigation to date, gardai in Cork have confirmed that Mr Sisk has been in touch with them and that they may have a future role.
Mr Sisk told the meeting that other matters which he was not prepared to divulge were still under investigation by him.
Yesterday Mr Con O'Leary, who was re-appointed unanimously as chairman, said his actions in alerting the registrar had been fully vindicated.
He was sad that some members of the board had been "caught in the crossfire" and had had to leave, but the work of the credit union would now go on and people could be assured that it was there to serve their needs.