How many credit unions are there in Ireland? Seems the Central Bank of Ireland does not know.
As part of an developing research project, I found the Register of Credit Unions here https://lnkd.in/egw2kNae
The page states this is valid as of January 2nd 2025. I downloaded the file, and using some python coding to check for valid webpages of each credit union on the Register, I found that 13 of 206 (or 6.3%) have either merged with other credit unions (9) or closed/liquidated (4). Just in case someone might suggest my coding is incorrect, when the code found an incorrect web domain, I manually checked all. To give one example, per the Register there is allegedly a 383CU Berehaven Credit Union Limited – this was liquidated in 2014 – see https://lnkd.in/eQbDi9rQ.
So two questions:
1) why is the (public) Register inaccurate?
2) would you be confident in a Regulatory authority that seem to not accurately know who it is regulating?
