Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Owens for his presentation which has been circulated to members. He did not pull punches in his written submission when he stated the draft Bill as presented would not provide enabling legislation for credit unions but would, in fact, strangle the life out of them. That is definitely shooting from the hip. Many of the points raised by him were familiar, as they had been raised yesterday by the Irish League of Credit Unions which shares many of the same concerns. We have raised these issues with it. I agree with the views of speakers today on them. I hope we will take them on board as we deal with the legislation on Second and Committee Stages.

I would like to tease out Mr. Owens's specific comments about the tiered structure. He seemed to suggest that if it was to be based on assets, there should be a five-tier approach. Am I correct when I suggest his preferred option would be based on risk and complexity?