Professor Patrick Honohan:

One could rely on common sense. Of course, it is a protection for the other members of the credit union that the credit union does not get caught in the situation where borrowers are in financial difficulty and need a restructuring of their debts. I note Deputy Humphreys' comment on section 35. However, I am sure the concern is that a generalised release of that could bring credit unions into more difficulty and then nobody would get loans from them.

On a tiered regulatory approach, it would not be the intention of the Central Bank to get into micromanaging. In fact, from the earlier discussion about banks, while micromanaging is what some would like us to do for banks, certainly not credit unions. We would be prepared to go more into the micromanaging of banks than of credit unions, given their size and scale and the appropriateness of it. I note the Deputy's comment on it.

The other point the Deputy makes I hear with concern. I will take it back and see what is going on. It would be terrible to think that borrowers would not be treated with respect. That cannot continue and I will make sure it does not.

Dealing with borrowers in a timely manner should, of course, be done. I could comment that we are contemplating expanding, and probably will expand, our staffing in the area of credit unions. The observation has been made that, since most credit unions are small and of relatively low impact on the economy because they are local in impact, we have applied a limited amount of regulatory resources. We should increase that. I expect, although the decision has not been finally taken, that we will substantially increase the number of staff dealing with the credit union sector.