1960’s "The Early Years & Humble Beginnings" The Early Years of Coolock Artane Credit Union - A Vision Realised On Wednesday 16 September 1965, under the auspices of the auspices of the Maryfield Residents Association, Willie Kehoe, Gerry Cullen and Pat Byrne called the first meeting of those interested in forming a local credit union. With very few turning up for the first meeting it took patience and several more attempts before enough interested people presented themselves.

Then, with eleven names of volunteer board members and staff on the books, affiliation was sought and obtained from the Irish League of Credit Unions. By December the little credit union, known then as Maryfield Credit Union, was operating every Saturday morning from Kilmore Hall on Kilmore Road.

A year later it was found necessary to move from the run-down and dismal Kilmore Hall and new accommodation was found in Greenfields House off Chanel Road for the one-day-a-week opening hours on Saturday mornings. By 1967 the Harmonstown and St Brendan’s estates were brought into the common bond and the name was changed to the Coolock and Artane Credit Union to reflect the enlarged catchment area. With the extra volunteers now available another small office operated on Friday nights in a wooden shed in Artane.

It was clear, with a quickening pace in the growth in membership, that more permanent premises were urgently needed. Office space was so cramped that the few staff who could be squeezed in could not deal with the lengthening queues where delays of up to two hours were not uncommon for those members seeking loans.

After a series of frustrating meetings with Dublin Corporation (now Dublin City Council), who had promised to lease over a site, a breakthrough finally arrived in 1969 when the transfer of the land on Gracefield Road was finally concluded. By October of that year the purpose-built premises were opened and, with a later reconstruction, served as the head office of the credit union for the next 30 years.