A total of 147 credit unions in the Republic will start rolling out electronic payment options from next February.

This will mean you will be able to have your wages put into the credit union directly from your employer.

The next step will be to have debit cards, allowing cash to be withdrawn from a credit union or bank ATM.

There are 2.8 million credit union members in Ireland. If just a fraction of these switch to their credit union for day-to-day banking, consumers will have given the main banks a bloody nose.