NI Presbyterian mutual society, Short of funds for withdrawal?

sickasaparrot

I received an email from the FSA in February replying to some queries I had regarding the regulation of PMS.

The FSA does not regulate credit unions in Northern Ireland, so their members do not have access to to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme ('FSCS'). Further details of the FSCS, and the limits which apply, may be accessed here.. Supervision of credit unions is a matter for DETI.

MamaMia_2

Contact details for Seymour Crawford are below if you wish to lobby on behalf of PCI members in the South.

Mr Crawford was mentioned by Monaghanman (Welcome!!) and I've also been told by another PCI friend that Mr Crawford has a sympathetic ear. So get emailing!! Pressure needs to be applied on the British Gov. from all angles - North and South.

[EMAIL="Seymour.Crawford@oireahtas.ie"]Seymour.Crawford@oireahtas.ie[/EMAIL]

fivealive_2

MamaMia wrote: »

Contact details for Seymour Crawford are below if you wish to lobby on behalf of PCI members in the South.

Mr Crawford was mentioned by Monaghanman (Welcome!!) and I've also been told by another PCI friend that Mr Crawford has a sympathetic ear. So get emailing!! Pressure needs to be applied on the British Gov. from all angles - North and South.

[EMAIL="Seymour.Crawford@oireahtas.ie"]Seymour.Crawford@oireahtas.ie[/EMAIL]

Sorry MamaMia but I am not convinced that you have spelt "oireachtas" correctly but he can also be contacted on [EMAIL="seymour.crawford@finegael.ie"]seymour.crawford@finegael.ie[/EMAIL]

crazymess

I received an email reply from Treasury Committee:

The is the answer Alistair Darling gave re the PMS to the Committee

This may have been posted previously - if so - sorry for repetition:



Chairman: Chancellor, Andy mentioned about the Committee going to Belfast, Edinburgh, et cetera, when we were in Belfast we were told about the serious hardships people were facing with the Presbyterian Mutual Society, indeed the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church wants to meet me to further press that case next week. We accept that regulation is a devolved issue but what message can I give him that the Government is taking this seriously which can give confidence that the savers there who find themselves out of pocket, not as a result of any actions they have taken, could be re-compensated once the various legal issues relating to the Society are resolved?
Mr Darling: I have a great deal of sympathy with many people who put their money into what was thought to be an industrial provident society and are in a situation where they are extremely worried about their savings. As you know, the Financial Services Authority is carrying out an investigation into seeing whether or not this institution at some stage became a bank in terms of taking deposits and making lending. I think they do need to conduct that investigation. If it was an industrial provident society, as I understand it, it would be registered with - I think it is - the Department of Trade and Industry or the DTI in Northern Ireland, obviously if it were a bank, then it should have been reported as such and it would have been regulated by the FSA. I think we need to get to the bottom of that and to find out what the problems are. I hope that can be done as quickly as possible consistent with ascertaining the facts. I am very aware of this; I know it is causing a lot of concern in Northern Ireland.

The Committee are awaiting the outcome of the work of the FSA before deciding what further action the committee can take.

Yours sincerely

Phil Jones
Committee Assistant
Treasury Committee




THE FSA HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THIS SINCE THE END OF NOVEMBER!


IT SEEMS AS IF THE GOV NEED THE FSA FINDINGS BEFORE THEY CAN COMMENT.

goodbyepci

jon_groovy wrote: »

i missed the news this evening - any news as to how pci got on with taking thomas callaghans petition to the govt?

I just saw a brief mention on the BBC news I think, nothing that wasn't said this morning

goodbyepci

When we heard the number who had signed the petition, some people were disappointed in the number because there are supposed to be 300,000 Presbyterians.
I've been looking at some of the old PCI websites from 2002 on and the figures for numbers of PCI members and congregations has not changed at all in 6 years.
Now there well may be still 560 congregations, but are there still 300,000 Presbyterians?
Are there more or are there less?

Anyone any idea?

fivealive_2

goodbyepci wrote: »

I just looked up figures for 1997
Same figures
300,000 members in 562 congregations!

No change in 12 years?

I think that is very unlikely?
There might be minimal change in the numbers of "nominal" Presbyterians but I would have thought that there has been a decline in the number of church-going Presbyterians (communicant and contributing members).
There has certainly been a significant decline in the number of children attending Presbyterian Sunday schools.

fivealive_2

goodbyepci wrote: »

Do you remember wasn't there a head count on one Sunday a few years ago, I seem to remember the numbers were pretty shocking, less than 33% turnout I think?

I remember that.:idea:

crazymess

And I'm sure there will be less unless this is all sorted out satisfactorily!


I think it was me who said approx 300,000 throughout the whole of Ireland. I understand it to be nearer 270,000.


And just a thought - out of the approx 9500 savers - perhaps 150 of those are congregations savings - made up of say 300 families ish!! So the total number affected could be in the region of say quarter of the presbyterians in Ireland.

goodbyepci

crazymess wrote: »

And I'm sure there will be less unless this is all sorted out satisfactorily!


I think it was me who said approx 300,000 throughout the whole of Ireland. I understand it to be nearer 270,000.


And just a thought - out of the approx 9500 savers - perhaps 150 of those are congregations savings - made up of say 300 families ish!! So the total number affected could be in the region of say quarter of the presbyterians in Ireland.

Exactly!!

So the implications of this for PCI are pretty serious?