Mr. Ed Sibley:

As a specific answer to the Deputy's direct question, even before the regulations were changed, there was significant capacity within the limits for credit unions to lend a significant amount more. With the new regulations coming in, I think it is in the order of €1.5 billion to €2 billion of extra lending that the credit union unions can do within the limits, so they are nowhere near hitting the limits and they are such a long way from it.

There are some real challenges within the credit union sector in terms of the longer-term sustainability and viability of their business model. There has been a lot of hard work done by the credit unions and the membership bodies. The Central Bank has done a lot of hard work in terms of supporting the credit unions over the past decade or so. There has been a significant amount of consolidation in the sector and some growth of some much bigger credit unions, while at the same time maintaining much of the credit union footprint around the country. That challenge of being very attractive to savers, and part of that has a demographic aspect, but less attractive for borrowers means they are significantly under-lent relative to their balance sheets.

There is capacity and, as I have said, I am very happy to come back and discuss credit unions in more detail.