DUBLIN, Ireland—After a contentious vote for president of the Irish League of Credit Unions here, including the involvement of the country’s High Court, the election has taken place and a winner has been named.
Brian McCrory, a teacher in Belfast and a board member of the ILCU, narrowly defeated ILCU vice president Blanche Ronayne by a vote of 273-267.
The vote was initially delayed after McCrory sought an injunction from the High Court, saying he took issues with comments that had been distributed prior to the vote by the previous president of the league, Martin Sisk. At a special board meeting on Friday, April 24, the board retracted the email and the injunction was lifted. The Irish Independent reported that a statement was read to delegates at the league’s meeting on Saturday in which it said the email “seriously damaged and impugned the integrity of Mr McCrory and as such it is a cause of great regret.”
According to the Independent, that email was related to a newspaper report by the accounting firm Mazars related to a deposit insurance program managed by the Irish league—Ireland does not offer government-backed deposit insurance to credit unions. That report said all was in order with the fund but suggested there was a connection between the release of the report and the board election.
“The league board accepts, without reservations, that Mr McCrory in offering himself as a candidate for the position of president of the ILCU has suffered grievous reputational damage by inference resulting from the offending circulation,” the Irish League of Credit Unions said in a statement..
The league board has agreed to reimburse McCrory for legal costs associated with seeking the injunction.
Some 3.3 people in Ireland belong to the country’s 365 credit unions.