Mr. Kevin Johnson:

I acknowledge the Chairman's kind words. They are very much appreciated. I am delighted that she had first-hand experience of seeing the benefit of some of the transfers of engagement. I am trying to understand how someone in our market could provide credit for 1% to 2%. It is not that we do not want to compete with it. We want to match it and beat it, if that is possible. It is fantastic what that could do. There definitely is an appetite for credit. Given that only €27 in every €100 of savings are out in a productive or prominent way, of course there is an appetite to do a lot more, in particular for small businesses. It is interesting that there are a lot of small businesses in Ireland today that would not be in existence were it not for the support of a credit union.

On housing, as my colleague said, the Central Bank has listed the publication of the investment regulations for Thursday, and we are looking forward to that. It is a step in the right direction but we believe there is much more we can do. Our preference is to see a legislative change that would allow credit unions to lend directly - individually and collectively - not just to the tier three housing bodies, but also to local authorities. We are appalled by the fact that essential workers, namely, gardaí, teachers and nurses, cannot afford to buy or rent houses. We have funds that could be productively used to develop schemes to address that. We ask the committee to consider that and we would be happy to provide assistance in terms of the legislative changes we request.