Mr. Ed Farrell:

We would like to see the two relevant Departments, namely, the Department of Finance and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, and the Central Bank try to figure out quickly how this can be facilitated.

We are responding to an official proposal or strategy where credit unions were mentioned on page 33. Mr. Knox would have been at more of the meetings in the Department. We were engaging with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government before that report came out and have had much engagement since. We were told credit unions were mentioned on page 33 to further the process and get some speed behind it and we were asked to draw up our own proper written formal proposals. There are the two options and we are surprised, or disappointed, with the approach taken by the arms of the State, including the two Departments and the Central Bank.

This is a huge problem. Maybe we were naive but we felt it would happen quicker. To be fair, we have had meetings with the Departments in the last two weeks and two months, even during the election, and we had a Central Bank meeting earlier in the year, following which we went back to it with further information. We believe they are going to get together to try to map out a roadmap for us.