An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir July/August 2019 www.dfmagazine.ie 26 | O n 26th June 2019, ANSAC (Army, Naval Service, Air Corps) Credit Union, celebrated 25 years of providing an unfal- tering service to its members. ANSAC was established in 1994 to help members build up financial resilience and reduce the chances of being overwhelmed by unaffordable debt, which was prevalent in the early 1990s as a result of low pay and a slow economy. An Cosantóir recently spoke with some of ANSAC's founding staff, both military and civilian, about the credit union's history. Martin Cosgrave, first general manager and former CEO, explained that PDFORRA's Annual Delegate Conference in 1992 agreed that one of its objectives would be to open a Credit Union, and a sub committee was set up to organise this. They included Jack Whelan (RIP) President of PDFORRA, Tom 'Claver' Nevin, (RIP), Tom McDonagh (RIP) and Steven Rynn. They met with the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) in February 1993. It was agreed that a full Study Group would be put in place and they first met in Cork's Metropole Hotel, in March 1993. Martin recalls, "We registered as ANSAC Credit Union Ltd in February 1994. At that meeting, a Board of Directors and a Super- visory Committee was elected to run the Credit Union. We didn't receive our first payroll deductions until March 1994, and it was a few weeks after that before we could offer loans. In our first week of signing up new members we opened 1,000 accounts." Martin remembers working hard alongside other directors, supervisors and volunteers to get the project off the ground. ANSAC's first offices were above PDFORRA's head office in Capel Street, Dublin, and Martin says that the representative association loaned ANSAC the money to purchase their first computers, which comprised basic CPUs with green screens. The loan was subse- quently written off by PDFORRA's annual delegate conference in 1994, which took a large financial strain off ANSAC. Rachel Kearns, ANSAC's first civilian staff member, who was taken on part time to operate the telephone and computer ac- count system in October 1994 remembers those early days: "Oh, the green screens bring me back!" she says. In May 1996 Martin, who had been seconded by the DF to AN- SAC in 1995, took up full-time employment with the credit union as general manager. At the time ANSAC was one of the fastest growing credit unions in the country, which saw Rachel being made full time and the addition of another civilian staff member, Gillian Dunne, who is ANSAC's current CEO. In July 1996 ANSAC purchased 75 Amiens Street, an 1860s resi- dential building not far from Connolly Station, for about £59,000. When they opened their new offices in October 1996 membership stood at over 2,500; today this stands at over 6,200. Just over 10 years ago ANSAC purchased the building next door at 76 Amiens Street, which now houses the board and committee rooms. Martin retired in June 2016, which saw Gillian promoted from assistant manager to CEO. Rachel is now the membership officer and on the Credit Committee. Gillian says that, like all credit unions, ANSAC relies heavily on volunteers, from committees and reps around the barracks and posts. "We have a large panel of volunteers, with eleven on our board of directors, five on our Board Oversight Committee, two on our Credit Committee, and three on our Credit Control Committee." Technological advances have seen ANSAC move its accounts and most of its loan applications to a secure online portal, which has reduced customer footfall. "It's not like back in the 90s," Martin says, "when a Naval Service ship would come into Dublin Port and we would have a string of sailors at the door." To which Gillian added: "Of course we are always open for personal callers, but we don't have the queues like community credit unions have. Also, recent renovations to the customer area include a private consultation room if members wish to avail of it." ANSAC currently has seven full-time and three part-time staff and Gillian says they are always looking for volunteers to act as barracks reps, and to sit on committees, for which training will be provided. BY SGT WAYNE FITZGERALD "Credit unions exist only to serve members — not to profit from their needs." Irish League of Credit Unions The original study group in 1993. Some members of the Board of Directors in early days. The original civilian staff, Rachel Kearns, Martin Cosgrave and Gillian Dunne.

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