Mr. Pat Owens:

Our concerns are similar. We have a concern that the nomination committee would have serious difficulties in operating, based on the sections set out in the draft Bill. We have a serious concern about the procedure of seeking pre-approval for nominating somebody. There is no suggestion of time limits. We deal with the Central Bank on a regular basis. It has a set number of days by which it must respond to various things and our experience is that it is usually towards the end of the period that one receives a response from it. There are more than 420 credit unions in the Republic. If each one is submitting nominations for two or three candidates to the Central Bank at the same time, will the Central Bank have the staff to deal with this? Will it pull staff from other vital jobs to vet the people concerned all in one go? There are serious issues.