The first offices and board were elected as follows:
| President: V. Rev. Canon O'Keeffe | Vice President: Lar Devlin |
| Treasurer: Eamonn Brennan | Secretary: Joe Mooney |
| Supervisors: Nicholas Downey, Chrissie Kelly, S. Farrell | |
| Board Members: George Murphy, Pat Owens, Jimmy Kelly, Seamus Hahessy, Jack Dunphy, Christy McGrath, Jas Dormer, Mrs. C. Rothwell | |
The Credit Union opened for business for the first time on Saturday 18th February at 11am - 12pm and 8pm - 9pm. On the first day 34 members joined and the first member was Mrs Dowling, Donaguile.
A total of £34-17-6 in shares and membership fees of £4-5-0 was collected on the first day, £0-7-6 was collected from the sale of (question and answer) booklets. Unfortunately the booklets were handed out “buckshee” before it was realized that they could and should have been sold at 6p each. A poor start, at the second meeting in March it was agreed that no loans would be granted in the first three months except in an emergency. The common bond was extended in October 1968. By the second A.G.M., 6th February 1969 loans had reached £8,610, dividend 5%. During 1969 the first annual dinner dance was held in Kilkenny.
Directors and Officers of Castlecomer Credit Union pictured at their Annual Dinner in Newpark Hotel. Included are Very Rev. Canon O’Keeffe PP (President), Mrs E . Brennan (secretary), Miss F. Bradley, Miss N. Holden, Miss U. Dunne, Mr L. Devlin (chairman), Mr J Mooney (treasurer), Messrs P. Owens, C. McGrath, M. O’Grady, T. Gleeson, J. Dormer, E. Brennan, M. Doogue.
Lar Devlin, James Dormer, Jack Dunphy
Back Row (l to r) Michael Brennan, John Hetherington, Nicholas Downey, George Murphy, Tony Flanagan, Patrick Curry, John Brennan, James Buggy. Front Row (l to r) Ann Campion, Christy McGrath, Francis Bradley (Sec.), Martin O’Grady (Chairman), Joe Mooney (Treasurer), James Dormer, Sally Daly.
Also, during 1969 the board was divided into three groups so that one third of the board would have to stand for elections every year. We also discovered that we should have fifteen directors instead of the nineteen that we had.
In January 1971, according to the minutes, the board agreed to give loans to cover the cost of tickets for the dinner dance but only for the cost of the tickets (no loans for drink).
In May 1971, Ms Brennan’s chemist came on the market and the board expressed and interest but it was sold as a chemist and continued as a chemist until 1995 when we finally bought it and it is now part of our present office. Having failed to obtain Ms Brennan’s, Ms Kealy shop was rented.
The agreement was £2-0-0 per week for a minimum period of one year and one year’s notice from either side. In August 1971, Eamonn Brennan who was now living and working in Kilkenny resigned. It was Joe Mooney and Eamonn Brennan who had been instrumental in getting the whole Credit Union project up and running in Castlecomer.
Facade of the first office, formerly Malones Supermarket
On Saturday 19th February 1972, the Credit Union opened it’s first office in the Commercial Establishment and Jas Dormer and Mrs Claire Duffy were appointed as colour consultants for the redecorating. It was rather fitting that our first office should have been in premises established by Daniel O’Connell.
At the A.G.M., the Common Bond was further extended to include all those living and working in the parishes of Castlecomer and Clogh and the Comer and Clogh postal area. Around this time proposals were made to borrow money from the members (complete role reversal) in order to build a Credit Union office in Barrack Street on the site of what is now Bollards car park. In April 1975, Nellie Holden was appointed the first paid employee. The possible purchase of Pierces (now Mary Harrington’s chemist) was also considered.
That 1000th member was Mrs Catherine Keane, who then lived in Market Street joined in June 1976. Our first chairman and founding member Lar Devlin passed away while at his work.
Our present premises, formerly Malone’s Supermarket, was purchased early 1977. The refurbishment was designed by Jim Buggy, building was undertaken by P. Kell & Son and completed in Kuly 1978. The official opeing took place on the 22nd October by Patrick Watchom, League President. At the 1978 A.G.M., full time opening commenced and the Common Bond enlarged to include Coon and Muckalee.
25th Anniversary Dinner, Presentation to mark 25 years on the board
Credit Union office and O'Neills Chemist prior to the development
During the contract for the construction of the present office. Back Row: Christy McGrath, Peter O’Donnell (Architect), Joe Mooney, James Dormer, John Ryan. Front Row: Cathy Dalton (Architect), J. Hetherington (Chairman), J. Tierney (Tierney & O’ Neill Builders)
The original refurbishment of the supermarket building only included the front office, so in July 1988, McCarthy Bros. were awarded the contract to renovate the whole building and during the renovation the Credit Union would operate from O’Grady Service Station. The new office opened on 29th November 1988. In July 1989, director and founder member George Murphy passed away.
A celebration to mark the 25th Anniversary was held in the Community School Gym, about four hundred attended the meal and included were League President L. McCarthy and reps from all the adjoining Credit Unions.
In 1993 Joe Mooney was appointed Manager. The 400th members, Marie Cahill, joined in January 1994. In June another founder member, Martin O’Grady passed away and around this time also, Gus Murray went to his eternal reword. Gus had been a great help to Castlecomer Credit Union in the early days when he was a Director of St Canice’s subsequently he became President of the I.L.C.U. and later President of the World Council of C.U. Over the previous three or four years there had been various moves by the Revenue Commissioners to tax Credit Union dividends. A numbers of proposals were put forward, debated, amended and in November the Revenue beat a tactical retreat, the Credit Union movement had won the battle but subsequently the Revenue won the war.
As mentioned earlier, Paddy o’Neill’s adjoining chemist shop was purchased and Dalton and O’Donnell Architects, Kilkenny were appointed to design the new extended office. On 20th June 1997, the contract was signed with Tierney and O’Neill Builders.
More than 50 years supporting the community. Castlecomer Credit Union is a democratic, financial co-operative which is owned and controlled by its members. The credit union is run only to benefit its members...
The new office was officially opened on the 30th October by Mr Frank Lynch, League President and blessed by Mons Ryan and Rev Orr. The Scholarship which is now running, was set up in November 1999. In February 2002, Joe Mooney who had been Manager for nine years offered his resignation which was accepted by the Board. The position was advertised and subsequently Noel Murphy who has worked in St Canice’s Credit Union in Kilkenny was appointed Manager and he attended his first board meeting on May 8th and started work on June 1st. In July our 8000th member, Peter Harding joined, he was presented with €250 in shares at a small celebration in the office. New office hours were agreed with the board and staff.
The new arrangements included all day opening, no lunch hour closing, closed on Monday instead of Wednesday, so the staff could have a two day weekend and opening hours 9.30am - 5pm.
In October 2005, John Hetherington who had been ill for some time resigned having served as a director for 33 years.
In 2006, an Assistant Manager, Cathy Gibbons was appointed. Cathy had previously worder in St Canice’s Credit Union, Kilkenny.
On February 20th this year, a celebration dinner was held in Newpark Hotel to mark the 40th Anniversary of the founding of the Credit Union. The attendance included all existing and surviving past directors and supervisors, members and reps from neighbouring credit unions and the President of I.C.C.U., Ms Anne O’Byrne.
The president made a presentation to the three remaining founding directors, Joe Mooney, James Dormer and Christy McGrath to mark their 40th year serving as directors.
Mr Frank Lynch unveiling the Plaque of the Official Opening
James Dormer, Christy McGrath, Joe Mooney
Primary Schools Quiz in Community School Gym
In 2007 Credit Union celebrated it’s 40th year in operation. At this point to Credit Union had five staff and despite the length of time in business was only on its second manage. Business was growing in this Celtic tiger period.
Between 2006 and 2008 lending grew, however with the crash of 2008 pressure came on the lending book and the then committee appointed a number of new committee members over the next few years when the Credit Union went through a period of reorganisation and consolidation.
Through 2010 to 2013 a lot of work was done by the committee in order to ensure the survival of the Credit Union things like changes in structure and the way the credit union did business culminated in 2014 with the appointment of an outside company to look at the way the credit union was managed. In 2014 the then manager left the organisation and he was replaced by a new CEO in December 2014. This brought a new era of change and over the next five years the Credit Union broadened its suite of to include house loans business loans community .
In 2017 Castlecomer Credit Union celebrated its 50th anniversary and to mark the occasion a function was held in the Rivercourt hotel in Kilkenny and the guest speaker was Jim Bulger local horse trainer in Castlecomer. The function was also attended by Charles Murphy the then president of Irish League of Credit Unions. To Commemorate the occasion a commemorative medal was produced and presented to all attended.
Throughout 2016/17 was identified that the existing premises as designed was not fit for purpose and Credit Union looked at the various different things that could be done in order to facilitate this in the end, it was decided That a complete renovation of the property was required and while planning permission was obtained in 2020 the work was not completed until the end of 2022.
We are now into 2025 and Castlecomer Credit Union is now trading very positively with assets of €63 million loans of €13 million deposit of €47 million which in reality is almost twice the size it was when they started the restructure in 2014. Castlecomer Credit Union remains an independent Credit Union with abroad suite of products from shares to current accounts and loans to savings.
