The board established to restructure credit unions is to return €230m to the Exchequer after it said it will need only a fraction of the funding made available to it.
The Credit Union Restructuring Board (ReBo) was given €250m funding in 2012 but said it will require only €20m to complete its work.
When the board was first set up, the credit union sector had over €1bn in arrears and about 50 credit unions had reserve ratios of less than 10%.
Following an extension of its deadline, it is thought that ReBo will complete its work by late next year.
The Minister for Finance will then dissolve the board and the unspent money will be released.
The information was supplied in response to a Parliamentary Question by Sinn Féin's Finance Spokesman Pearse Doherty.
A total of 189 credit unions have engaged with ReBo at varying stages of the restructuring process - this corresponds to over half of the credit union sector.
Sinn Féin Finance Spokesperson Pearse Doherty has welcomed the confirmation that €230m of the fund will be saved.
He called on the Government to engage with the credit union movement to see how this money can be reinvested into the communities served by credit unions, reiterating his comments from the Dáil during the week.
He said: "I was happy but not surprised to see that up to €230m of the ReBo fund would be saved. It is testament to the professionalism of the credit union movement as well as to the health of the sector that so much will be saved.
"As part of its six steps plan, the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) has anticipated a saving and has called on the State to work with them to see this money reinvested.
"Given the regulatory challenges facing the credit union movement, I believe the right approach is to work with them to put this money to use in our communities.
"The ILCU have well-thought proposals on social housing and financing SMEs that this money could be directed toward if the political will exists," he added.
