Credit Union members voted to commit an extra £2 million to complete a "root and branch" review of the controversial ISIS computer system yesterday at a special general meeting of the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU).
The funding was part of a ILCU board motion passed at the meeting which effectively delays a final decision on the implementation of the ISIS system until another special general meeting is held in October.
The ISIS project has provoked sharp divisions within the Credit Union movement following the revelation last week that projected cost overruns have increased from £40 million to £68 million.
Some 19 member unions have signed up to a letter of protest from Tullamore Credit Union which threatened legal action against the ILCU if its support for the ISIS system impacted on their individual union members. Supporters of the ISIS system, including ILCU Secretary, Mr Tony Smyth, estimated yesterday's vote was carried by a majority of up to eight to one in favour but opponents of the scheme said the vote was more like four to one in favour.
"The main issue is to get the entire movement within the next few months to pull together," said Mr Smyth. "This meeting was hugely useful in terms of sorting out where we are and what we want to do."
So far some 330 out of a total of 536 member unions have supported ISIS and paid either a £10 or £20 levy per member towards its development. Mr Smyth said the League Board would talk to the 19 member unions which had publicly opposed ISIS and seek to come to some accommodation. It is understood a resolution to prevent further use of the Savings Protection Scheme fund - an emergency fund of about £40 million gathered from the affiliation fees of members - to finance ISIS was passed at the meeting. This proposal would go some way to meet the concerns of member unions opposed to ISIS who had strongly attacked the League's use of £5.5 million from this fund to bankroll the computer system.
The extra £2 million to finance the review and ongoing operations of the subsidiary company managing the ISIS project, ILCUTECH, will now be paid for out of League funds.
But opposition to ISIS is still strong among member unions who feel they have paid indirectly for ISIS, through the SPS fund or fees paid to the League, but yet have not signed up for the system.
A representative from a member union in Cork, Mr Jim O'Connell, said it was a divisive and emotive issue which had not been looked at carefully by the League. He said he opposed it strongly and didn't think the system was needed. However, a sample of views taken among the 650 delegates present at the meeting yesterday showed a majority in favour of proceeding with the system.
Although many members were unhappy at the projected cost overruns most thought there was no point in turning back after committing over £20 million already.
It is understood the League will engage in an extensive consultation process with credit unions over coming months throughout the country to promote the ISIS project. This process was started at the special general meeting as staff of ILCUTECH - the subsidiary company which manages the ISIS project - gave presentations of the system to delegates every 30 minutes and an executive of Sanchez, the company which supplies the computer system, spoke to delegates.
The review process will be carried out by the ILCU Board in partnership with British financial consultants, OSI, despite the fact that the ILCU Board has claimed the company failed to take account of a £9 million VAT bill in their initial cost projections. Mr Smyth said the league maintained a good relationship with OSI although some questions still needed to be addressed by the company. But he said the League would like to move towards a solution rather than getting tied up in legal action. The review will also include representatives from Cara Computers, Sanchez Computer Associates, PricewaterhouseCoopers, McCann FitzGerald and ILCUTECH staff.
