Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It makes no difference now because the application of this will only emerge when the Bill has been enacted. I understand it will be another year before the full Bill is operational, so there is no retrospection. Given the fact that the 12-year rule on aggregate over 15 years would have to apply, looking forward I suspect we will have a decade to re-examine credit union legislation. It seems to be on the agenda every ten years or so. This legislation does not seek in any way to trample across the number of years people have currently served. I fully accept what the Senator is saying and we must have a common sense approach to this matter. The amendment is an attempt to gain that consensus in both Houses. In fairness to colleagues, this was flagged on all sides and the Minister for Finance is trying to reflect that fact in the amendment before us.

As regards the timeframe, once the Bill is passed it will take another year for the full legislation to have an impact. Therefore it is really-----