Mr. Pat Owens:

It would not have an immediate impact because we do not have such a situation at present. In the past we have had fathers and sons on the board and it has never caused an issue, to our knowledge. The longer term problem is that we are already working from a limited pool of people. We have to ask ourselves how many of our 8,500 members will be willing and able to give the time and commitment required. We are working from a small pool as it is. People often get a love of the credit union movement from family members who are involved with it. When I was growing up, my mother was a director of a credit union in Belfast. I have always been aware of credit unions and had an interest in them. That interest is often passed on. If a member of this committee was told he or she could not stand for election as an elected representative because his or her cousin was already in the Dáil, it would not sit well with him or her. It does not sit well with us. We believe the issue of conflict of interest which can arise on any board needs to be addressed. That should not mean having to determine that a conflict of interest arises immediately when two people are related to each other. There should be no suggestion two such people are likely to form some sort of clique to take over.