Mr. Ed Sibley:

I will address that question.

Like the Chairman, I am a strong believer in credit unions. They have an important role to play in Ireland. They have a hugely important role to play from the perspective of financial inclusion and I hope they will thrive long into the future. They face several challenges and this committee has shown a very strong awareness of those challenges. The Central Bank is absolutely committed to working with the sector in addressing those challenges. The level of engagement and support that we give to the sector, some of which the Governor referred to in his opening statement, is well beyond any other sector that the Central Bank regulates. Through the work of the member bodies, the individual credit unions, the Central Bank and other agencies such as the Credit Union Restructuring Board, ReBo, the sector has delivered a huge level of safe restructuring and dealing with those credit unions that were at the very weaker end in a way that has protected members' funds and protected the services of credit unions into the community in a strong way and without recourse to taxpayers. On the overall number that was given, I was not around during the period when stress-testing was undertaken on the credit union sector, and I assume it was a stress-test rather than a prediction. As with any of these things, it has not played out quite like that. Instead the credit union sector, through the hard work of many constituent parts, has addressed some of the fundamental weaknesses-----