Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh gach éinne agus gabhaim míle buíochas libh as teacht anseo inniu. I welcome all the witnesses, from Allied Irish Banks, Mr. Robert Mulhall, managing director of retail, corporate and business banking and Mr. Denis O'Callaghan, national head of local markets; from An Post, Mr. John Daly, director of retail operations and Mr. Liam O'Sullivan, director of mails operations; from Bank of Ireland, Mr. Liam McLoughlin, chief executive of retail Ireland and Mr. Pat Farrell, head of group communications; from the Irish League of Credit Unions, Mr. Dave Matthew, head of monitoring and Mr. John Knox, of the research and development department; and from the Irish Postmasters' Union, Mr. Ned O'Hara, general secretary and union officers, Mr. Paddy McCann, Mr. Ciaran McEntee and Mr. Sean Martin. I thank the witnesses for their attendance.

By virtue of section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of the evidence they are to give to the committee. If, however, they are directed to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and continue to so do, they are entitled thereafter only to qualified privilege in respect of their evidence. They are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of these proceedings is to be given and are asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise or make charges against any person or an entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable. The opening statement and any other documents may be published on the committee website.

Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the Houses or an official, either by name in such a way as to make him or her identifiable. Today's meeting is part of a series of meetings that this committee is holding to consider what it takes to sustain a viable rural community. I have been a Member of the Oireachtas for approximately six years and I have never been on a committee that has investigated so deeply all aspects of an issue. This committee has been involved in the greatest level of outreach to different organisations which trade or do business in rural areas. The objective is to have proposals to make rural communities viable which we can then put to Government. I ask witnesses to ensure the presentation is focused on that objective. Today we will deal with the third stream of this, which is maintaining an effective service and presence in rural communities.

I call on the representative from Allied Irish Banks to address the committee.