EXHIBIT 31.1


                                  Certification

I, Richard F. Bennett, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, certify that:

     1.   I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-QSB of Gouverneur
          Bancorp, Inc.;
     2.   Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any
          untrue statement of material fact or omit to state a material fact
          necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances
          under which such statement were made, not misleading with respect to
          the period covered by this report;
     3.   Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
          information included in this report, fairly present in all materially
          respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows
          of the small business issuer as of, and for, the periods presented in
          this report;
     4.   The small business issuer's other certifying officer(s) and I are
          responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and
          procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d- 15(e))
          and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange
          Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the small business issuer and
          have:

          a)   Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
               disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
               supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
               small business issuer, including its consolidated subsidiaries,
               is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly
               during the period in which this report is being prepared;
          b)   Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
               caused such control over financial reporting to be designed under
               our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the
               reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of
               financial statements for external purposes in accordance with
               generally accepted accounting principles;
          c)   Evaluated the effectiveness of the small business issuer's
               disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report
               our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure
               controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by
               this report based on such evaluation; and
          d)   Disclosed in this report any change in the small business
               issuer's internal control over financial reporting that occurred
               during the small business issuer's first fiscal quarter that has
               materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially
               affect, the small business issuer's internal control over
               financial reporting; and

     5.   The small business issuer's other certifying officer(s) and I have
          disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control
          over financial reporting, to the small business issuer's auditors and
          the audit committee of the small business issuer's board of directors
          (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

          a)   All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
               design or operation of internal controls over financial reporting
               which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the small
               business issuer's ability to record, process, summarize and
               report financial information; and
          b)   Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
               other employees who have a significant role in the small business
               issuer's internal control over financial reporting.




DATE: February 11, 2004

/s/ RICHARD F. BENNETT
----------------------
RICHARD F. BENNETT
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER


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