About Cavan Credit Union

History of Cavan Credit Union

Cavan Credit Union opened a full time office in Bridge Street in January 1977 with only one member of staff, Anne Mc Cabe, who was employed as office manager. At that time there already about 1500 members in the Credit Union; the office was open for business from Tuesday to Saturday as well as for a couple of hours on Friday nights.

Shortly after becoming a full-time office a second member of staff was employed, Kay Malcahy. Kay only remained for a short term and left to work for Cavan County Council. Then Mary Harwood joined the staff in January 1978 and is still a member of staff up to the present day. This was all in pre-computer days when accounts had all to be done manually. However this did not present the steady growth of the Credit Union and shortly additional staff was required. Within the next few years quite a number of new staff were employed. The present staff are Aileen Fitzgerald-General Manager, Brid Brady- Financial Manager, Karen Coyle, Leanne Fitzpatrick, Lorraine Tighe, Simone Crossan, Ruth Hewitt, Sandra Mc Cormack, Carmel Brick, Caroline Brady, Lorna Dunne, Katie Brady, Declan Reilly, Mary Harwood, Sheila Deevey, Evelyn Gray, Margaret Rudden and Josephine O’Reilly.

In 1998 the credit union moved to a new premise in Town Hall Street but membership grew to such numbers that another move was necessary in 2003 to the present address in Main Street where the membership is currently 14000 and where more new staff members were employed.

Anne Mc Cabe was office manager from 1977 until December 1999 she was followed by Eamon Moore who became the first General Manager in January 2000 at the start of the new millennium. Helen O’Reilly was appointed General Manager in 2002 and our current Managers are Aileen Fitzgerald who is General Manager appointed in 2008 and Brid Brady who is Financial Manager also appointed in 2008.

The Credit Union Mission Statement

The Mission of the Credit Union is to promote the financial well being of its members. To achieve this purpose the Credit Union is committed to providing a broad range of innovative financial products supported by the excellent service of a dedicated, well-trained staff. These programs will be administered in accordance with sound management practices to maintain the financial strength of the Credit union. The Board of Directors, Management and Staff of the Credit Union hereby affirm that the efforts of the Credit Union will be consistently and professionally dedicated to the accomplishment of this mission.

The Credit Union Story

The modern Credit Union movement traces its origins to Germany and to Friedrich Willhelm Raiffeisen, the Mayor of a small town in southern Germany, who in 1849 formed societies, which later evolved in to Credit Unions. The purposes of these Credit Unions was to enable people to help themselves in relieving debt and poverty.

A Credit Union is a democratic, financial co-operative owned and controlled by its own members. Each Credit Union is run only to benefit its members, all of whom have something in common - the common bond.

The Credit Union movement was introduced into Ireland in 1958 by Nora Herilhy with the support of a number of other dedicated pioneers.

Since then, the Credit Union philosophy of mutual self-help has proved very popular, and there are now over 530 Credit Unions affiliated to the Irish league of Credit Unions throughout the country.

In Ireland over two million members have recognized the value of credit unions, and have savings approaching several billion euro with their credit unions. There are thousands employed in the sector and many more thousands are volunteers involved in the movement.