Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would have liked to have raised this issue with the other banks and perhaps the committee might do so. Ulster Bank's customers have been very loyal to the bank, despite last year's IT fiasco. It has 1.3 million customers here and 2 million across the island of Ireland. It is closing a number of branches - the number is on its website. It has slipped out that the bank intends to close another 39 branches in the future. As we discussed the issue of debt write-down, I will not go into it again. These branches are central features in many towns and villages. There is no Ulster Bank in my parish, but there were three banks which are now closed. They are centrepieces of the town, but they will be left idle for a long time because they are not suitable for anything else. I ask the banks to come together to develop an initiative which could see some of these properties handed over to the local communities on a long-term lease or for a nominal fee if it could be shown it would be for a community benefit. This would reward the loyalty of its 1.3 million customers in the South and its 700,000 customers in the North. The bank wants to be profitable and get its assets back, but many of these properties will lie idle for a long time and I am asking whether it would consider such a scheme. Ulster Bank could take the lead, but I also make the same suggestion to Bank of Ireland. It would also take the sting out of the fact that the bank was withdrawing from the community.