Ethical Saving

Investing your money with your local Credit Union is a step towards supporting the local economy. Credit Unions favour giving loans to loyal and local customers, usually with better interest rates than bigger banks.

Triodos Bank is one of a number of European Ethical banks. Ethical loans are available from Triodos in Ireland, and they already support numerous environmental and ethical businesses and projects. At present, there are no plans to open a branch in Ireland, but you can open an account with them in the UK, or Belgium.

Ethical pension funds are also available in Ireland. These are funds that only invest in companies which meet strict ethical criteria. When compared to other pension funds, the ethical Friends First Stewardship fund has actually outperformed non-ethical pension funds. See the web links below for more information.

As consumers, our biggest power is to decide where we shop and invest. So if we want to protect what we've got in Ennis and the planet, it's time to put our money where our mouth is.