The annual general meeting of the Irish League of Credit Unions took place in Limerick over the weekend and while there was a consensus among delegates that the credit union is facing the "radical change" of President Higgins' opening speech, a key funding decision suggested otherwise.
There was widespread support for a review conducted by Dr Eddie Molloy's Advanced Organisation, which recommends an "empowered centre", but not financial support.
The 1,000 delegates voted against a proposal to pay €800,000 to Advanced Organisation for its work so far, the Irish Independent reports.
The amount was set to be taken from the €100 million Special Protection Scheme (SPS), a fund primarily established to help credit unions at risk of insolvency.
It brings into question the delegates desire for change, as the SPS was also tentatively set to fund the €5-6m first phase of Advanced Organisation's reform plan.
A league spokeswoman told the Irish Independent:
"While this particular funding motion was defeated, this is not the end of the process and the board will now decide on a date for a special general meeting to discuss and debate the final Advanced Organisation (AO) report, and make a decision on costs and funding going forward.
"AO at this time has been paid in full for work completed to date".