Mr. Seamus Maye:

In response to Deputy Pearse Doherty, the first thing we have to do is break up the monopoly or oligopoly of the banks. People in this country are being charged outrageous interest rates. The pillar banks effectively have over 90% - it might be 95% - of the market. The way it currently works, those in the indigenous economy have their hands and feet tied. We absolutely need change. We have advocated two forms of change. One involves the New Zealand example and what has been done there regarding post offices. We believe that must be brought into post offices here. The Government is not listening to us and wants to bring in an agency type bank instead. The latter would do nothing for communities. We are huge fans of the Sparkasse model for obvious reasons. It has been in existence for over 200 years and we know it is unbreakable. Where we differ slightly is that we see that there are two networks in Ireland, namely, the post office network and the credit union network. We have adequate infrastructure but we still have problems.

The Government has promised a stakeholders' forum. Much of what is being discussed here should probably go to that forum. We could iron out the differences, clarify the position and then come back to the committee. One thing that has to be done if we are ever to have a thriving indigenous economy is to break the banking oligopoly. The Public Banking Forum of Ireland acts in the public interest and represents farmers, small businesses and citizens. We want to see credit available at competitive prices and believe this can be done through the existing networks.