Mr. Bobby McVeigh:

I should say that in the case of the lending restrictions in place in the various credit unions, it is not in the purview of ReBo to deal with that issue because we do not impose them and we cannot ask that they be lifted. However, when the registrar's department does a complete analysis of the credit union to see if it is in compliance, obviously if there are serious delinquency problems or capital deficiencies, they will lead to some restrictions being put in place. My colleague, Mr. Joe O'Toole, has said the registrar has told us they are looking at the issue and will review the restrictions. Over and above that, one of the questions I had in that department some months ago was that it said it does not appear that the restrictions on lending - the caps - are affecting credit unions' ability to service their members in that Mr. Patrick Casey indicated the average loan across the system is about €6,000 and the caps are usually higher than that. It is a problem imposed by that department. To be clear, it is not in the purview of ReBo as to exactly why it is there or how it can be lifted. As Mr. John Doyle has indicated, if a restructuring process involves a credit union that had some caps on its lending, that is basically removed with a larger asset base and a larger membership base.