The Central Bank has said it is concerned at the high level of credit unions which are still subject to lending restrictions.
Speaking over the weekend, the Central Bank's Registrar of Credit Unions, Anne Marie McKiernan said that 102 credit unions are still under lending restrictions.
While this is down from 199, Ms McKiernan said the existence of such restrictions should now convey meaningful information to members that the particular credit union "has failed to demonstrate that it is meeting the relevant regulatory requirements that are in place to best protect members' funds".
She also said it was unacceptable for the credit unions which have failed to engage meaningfully with the Central Bank's review to continue to do so.
The Registrar of Credit Unions made her comments at the annual conference of industry representative body CUDA in Cavan.
She told the conference that the financial position of the credit unions are mixed, with improvement in some areas and continuing concerns in others.
Improvements include growth in new lending volumes, the continuing fall in arrears and the fall in the number of credit unions reporting below the Central Bank's regulatory reserve ratio, which fell to seven at the end of 2015 from 11 at the end of 2014.
But Ms McKiernan also noted that the increase in new lending volumes disguised a continued downward trend in numbers of new loans. Arrears - while falling - remain unacceptably high at 13%, she added.
She said the biggest challenge facing the sector is the need to grow income from core lending. This in turn leads to the need to address the movement's ageing membership base, as well as the difficulties in changing products and service offerings to attract younger members.
"For the sector's future sustainability, we see four main requirements - further restructuring, a greater drive for new, active borrowers, a marked increased in core lending, and business model development in a multi-step, well-managed way," Ms McKieran stated.
She also said that the Central Bank will continue to support restructuring within the credit union sector after the conclusion of the credit union restructuring boards (ReBo) mandate at the end of March.
ReBo's last progress report - published in October - showed that just over half of the credit unions have engaged with it since it was established in 2012.
The restructuring of the sector could see the total number of credit unions fall from 425 in 2006 to 300 by the end of this year.
Ms McKiernan said that the more mid-sized credit unions were now assessing merger opportunities, adding that it was clear that restructuring has become widely embraced by the movement as a "strategic opportunity".
