Mr. Ed Sibley:

There is a lot of discussion about the public banking model, including the role of credit unions. I have met Irish Rural Link and representatives of the Sparkassen on a couple of occasions and I have another meeting in the next couple of months on the topic. A lot of thought is being given to this but I have not seen a specific proposal from ILCU, CUDA or any other credit union body for a public bank. I believe they are interested and engaged but there are no firm proposals from the credit union sector, though Irish Rural Link and others have done work on what a public bank might look like.