Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is definitely good value for Bank of Ireland because it made €431 million on the back of fees and charges last year. That is a huge amount of money. It is not just about the differentiation in regard to charges between those who are wealthy enough to have €3,000 in their account and those who are not. If I open an account in Belfast or London, I will not have to pay such charges. Regardless of my income, lodging and withdrawing cash in branches will be free, as will making debit card payments in pounds, online transactions, phone transactions, in-shop transactions, withdrawing cash in pounds from cash machines or post offices and withdrawing euros from Bank of Ireland cash machines in Ireland. In Ireland, we are charged 25 cent for each of those transactions. A bank that was rescued by the Irish people offers free banking services to people in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but if one of its Irish customers buys a Mars bar and uses a PIN, he or she is charged 10 cent. If one withdraws one's cash from a Bank of Ireland ATM one is charged 25 cent. That adds up to a nice profit of €431 million for the bank, predominantly, I would argue, on the back of low-income customers. There is a significant inequality. How can the witnesses stand over the fact that the bank offers these services free of charge to its customers in Manchester and Liverpool, but customers in Dublin or Donegal are being gouged?