Mr. Bobby McVeigh:

I hope the answers are just as good. Each credit union, because it is autonomous, member-owned and member-driven, will determine the services it should provide to its members. As I see it, as we look to the future, the members, particularly if we target the younger members in the 20 to 35 age group, are demanding more services. If one looks at the share of wallet that a credit union now has, it is small in comparison with what it could be because there are services from a financial institution that they cannot get at the credit union. No matter whether one calls it SACCO in Africa, they are credit unions and they are financial institutions.

They should be looking at and determining the needs of the members and attempting to provide those services, but once again, because they are all independent, they in turn have to make that determination. If they truly are going to expand their membership and particularly serve as a niche for 20 to 35 year olds, then in my opinion they are going to have to expand services. However, as I say, because it is member-owned and member-driven, it becomes an individual credit union decision. My experience tells me that as the membership grows and as their bonds become open bonds as opposed to closed bonds, they will be in a better position to add new services, enhance what they have and become more cost-effective and efficient. That is that component of it. That is a vision I have for the credit union system in Ireland.

As I said, I know what credit unions have done for this country, whether it is individual families, communities or whatever, and the important role they play. As I think Mr. Hession has suggested, 60% of the population belongs to the credit union movement. I have been all over this country for 20 or 25 years and I can tell the committee that when I talk to taxi drivers or people running farms or small businesses, everybody has been touched by this credit union system. From ReBo's larger vision of restructuring, we want to ensure that what we can do from a restructuring point of view is enhance their ability not only to provide additional services but to survive and thrive in this economy.