Ms Anne Marie McKiernan:

The Chairman made a point regarding regulation scale or the assertion that there is over-regulation. We operate what we believe to be a proportionate and appropriate system of regulation and supervision. It is attuned to the carrying out of our statutory remit of ensuring stability in the sector and the safety of members' funds. However, we have higher requirements, as I have said before, for the larger credit unions and scaled-back requirements for smaller credit unions. We are not raising significant risk issues for the smaller credit unions where such risks are not material to their business.

We had an external peer review carried out by the International Credit Union Regulators Network in 2014. The review judged that our system of regulation and supervision was proportionate to the nature, scale and complexity of the Irish credit union sector. Moreover, the regulations we have in place now were built on the recommendations of the Commission on Credit Unions in 2012. We believe these have been implemented fairly and proportionately. We believe it is not a question of over-regulation and that the regime is appropriate. Where we find instances of failures or where we believe the position of credit unions endanger members' funds, then we take the appropriate action. That action may involve restructuring - this has been the case in several instances - and, in rare cases, liquidation.