Fury over closure of Valentia credit union

A decision to close the credit union on Valentia Island has angered locals, who want the board of directors to reverse the decision, saying it goes against the credit union’s claims to be all about community.

The island’s credit union is to close on Friday. Valentia is a sub-office of Caherciveen Credit Union, and the office on Valentia operated just one morning a week — on Fridays — all year round.

The board of directors at Caherciveen say their decision to close Valentia was because of leaner economic times and said members on the island may now use the main office in Caherciveen.

However, locals say the Valentia office was busy and was frequently used by the island’s 700 or so people, many of whom are elderly. Tourists also availed of services there.

Brendan Murphy, a local and a member of the credit union on Valentia, yesterday hit out at the credit union, saying it should understand the needs of the community.

“The credit union, of all people, should understand this is all about community — they promote themselves as being about community,” said Mr Murphy.

The decision was poorly thought out and there was a lot of anger on Valentia, he said.

The attitude to rural Ireland was “close down, close down”, he said, referring to the threatened closure by various state agencies in recent years to close the Valentia hospital and the coastguard station.

“We might as well close the bridge [between Valentia and the mainland] altogether, ” he said.