John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Mr. McVeigh can say that again. In terms of what is happening in credit unions currently, with the Central Bank and the Department of Finance to a degree, and possibly the regulator who is not present to answer, if one takes a loan of €6,000 to €10,000, there is an inordinate amount of red tape that one has to go through to get loans. I have heard that from individuals and families and even small businesses where it applies. That is not what the credit union is about. If either the Department of Finance, the Central Bank or the regulator, when someone in that office reads the transcript of the meeting, could do something to lift some of the red tape and allow discretion at branch level, it would help enormously the local economic situation. Could the witnesses from the Department of Finance or the Central Bank indicate how long it would take to restore the flexibility they once enjoyed and which they did not abuse, now that we are seeing a little bit of blue sky after what happened since 2007, even if it is credit union by credit union?