Mr. Seamus Boland:

I do, but are the credit unions going to become part of a banking system? That is the question. I am not necessarily saying they should not or will not; I am simply saying these are questions for the forum to look at. Again, let us go back to the reality. We also want to keep every single credit union open, but not every single credit union, especially the smaller ones which serve an enormously valuable purpose in being small, will be able to loan huge amounts of money. That makes sense. I think my colleague said one would have to look at this and I would be quite glad to see them looking at it. However, it should be remembered that there are, to quote Mr. Johnson, 261 units throughout the country. How does one manage the legislation in order that all of them can work with cohesion? The worst thing that could happen, if the credit union was suddenly to become a banking institution, is that there could be pressure on it to start closing branches. That would be a real danger, unless we work this out properly. Let me be clear: Irish Rural Link is not a vested interest. Whether the Sparkasse model is picked-----