Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy may not be aware of it but I have been involved for a number of years with Seamus Boland from Irish Rural Link in regard to the work it has been doing, including in the area of public banking and how to build up local banking systems and services in a regional rural way. That was interesting work because An Post was similarly looking at the possibility of expanding its branch of banking services and it is now doing that work. It has done that work over the years in conjunction with companies such as AIB and others, for which they provide a front-of-house service. It is a valid service. It has been particularly important as some of the commercial banks have withdrawn some of their branch networks. It is important that we still have the capability to get counter services. An Post does a lot of good work in that regard. Banking and financial services is changing. We are seeing more mobile banking applications coming on stream and this is likely to continue. I am not sure if anybody here has a Revolut card or knows somebody who has one. It is one of a range of new services that has come on stream. I expect and believe that An Post and, in particular, the post office network can continue to have a significant role through their expansion to new services in the financial services area, including the provision of credit cards. Recently, An Post introduced a new product for people looking to retrofit their homes, in respect of which it is working on conjunction with Scottish and Southern Energy, SSE, an energy expert company.

SSE, through another company it is working with, is providing finance for this together with packaging and marketing it. It is those sorts of financial services products that An Post should, and will, go into. It will be difficult. When I was in this role previously, An Post went into the banking area and then had to withdraw during the financial crisis. There are risks involved in entering that market. It is necessary to be good at lending and to build up lending skills and expertise, and that is not easy to do. It is critical how that will be done, and we should proceed slowly to ensure we do not have a repeat of what happened in 2010.

I point out to Mr. O'Callaghan and others that one of the real advantages the An Post network has is that it is trusted. Post offices are often run by families who have been there for generations. They are seen as centres of the community and people have a real respect for them. In the area of financial services, that is, and always will be, an important consideration. That is one of the ways in which the network could be a centre for financial services.