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

The point is the Central Bank will not quantify them in numbers. That is my concern. I think it is necessary for the Central Bank to spell out the numbers we are talking about. Credit union representatives put it to us that they cannot develop their businesses because of the extent and nature of the regulation that they fail to understand. Ms McKiernan referred to the business model transformation. We have emphasised that credit unions own their own business model. There comes a point in regulation where it is simply too much.

This takes me back to the question Deputy Sherlock asked. We are told there is no tiered system, but Ms McKiernan is telling us that there is a tiered system. The credit unions are saying that they want a tiered system because the smaller credit unions cannot handle the financial burden of red tape and bureaucracy bearing down on top of them. That is their complaint. Again, I am keen for Ms McKiernan to focus on the numbers that she is talking about in order that we might understand it. As I said, he made these remarks in her speech. I would like her to answer the point about too much regulation. It is simply preventing the credit unions from doing business. Moreover, she keeps referring to the need to safeguard funds. That is the entire purpose of localised credit unions. They know their members and they are protecting the funds of their members. It is as if she repeated the point so many times in that speech, Ms McKiernan believes credit unions do not understand it.