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

I still have concerns. I am going to work quickly through what Ms McKiernan said to try to restore some structure in terms of the position of the Central Bank versus the credit unions. Earlier, officials from the Department of Finance appeared before the committee. The representatives clearly said that everything was the fault of the Central Bank, basically, and that everything was under the remit of the regulator. They were asked several questions and the answer was that the Central Bank was the regulator.

Ms McKiernan said that, regrettably, we are seeing too many cases of non-compliance with many regulatory requirements and some cases of unacceptable poor systems and controls. She went on to say that such breaches will not be tolerated by the Central Bank and that the bank would take enforcement cases against credit unions. For her to believe it to be necessary to say that, I take it the Central Bank is having considerable difficulty with the credit union sector in terms of compliance with regulation. Otherwise, why would she state it so baldly and generally?