EXHIBIT 31.1

                                  Certification

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

1.   I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-KSB of Gouverneur Bancorp,
     Inc.;

2.   Based on my knowledge, this annual 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
     statements 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 the report, fairly present in all material 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)) for
     the small business issuer and we 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) 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

     c) disclosed in this report any change in the small business issuer's
     internal controls over financial reporting that occurred during the small
     business issuer's second 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 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 control 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:  December 23, 2004

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