Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

As others have said, the way that this has been handled is extremely disappointing. The treatment of customers and staff has been unacceptable. I question the idea that a final decision had not been made because it is very clear that many decisions were being made. I ask Ms Howard to comment on the withdrawal from the sustainable banking forum and the disbanding of Ulster Bank's sustainable banking committee in December. Was it at that point that it became clear that sustaining of banking services in Ireland was no longer on the table? Over the past two or three years Ulster Bank has sold a substantial number of its loan books. In particular, €800 million in non-performing loans were sold to the US vulture fund, CarVal.

Ms Howard spoke about the performing loan book. My concern is over what gets categorised as non-performing. In the case of that loan book, some of the properties that were categorised as non-performing had been non-performing for just 12 months. Given the pandemic, is there a danger of a large number of loans being categorised as non-performing? Is Ulster Bank considering selling the non-performing loans to vulture funds? What screening will it apply to ensure it does not skew the assessment of non-performing loans?

I am also concerned about branch closures. We have heard of listening exercises. The bank needs to engage with a number of people and not simply listen to them. In those smaller decisions along the way, how does Ulster Bank plan to be more active in engaging on decisions before decision points? For example, Ulster Bank customers have been told that if their mortgages are being transferred to a new provider, they will be told in advance by letter and email. How far in advance will they be told? Will there be a mechanism to allow them to transfer their loan if they would prefer not to have it transferred to a provider of Ulster Bank's choosing?

I am also concerned about loan schemes, including the micro credit guarantee scheme, the Covid-19 guarantee scheme and business loan schemes, where the State has supported Ulster Bank's lending. Is that something that has been looked at and engaged with?

Ulster Bank has very significant landmark properties in a number of parts of Ireland, including Sligo, Letterkenny and Kilkenny. Is there engagement with local authorities as well as with banks on those properties? We hope those branches will remain active as bank branches. There are many decisions within these decisions. It would have been constructive if there had been engagement on the many decisions that led us to this point. It is important to have engagement with all relevant stakeholders in the decisions that come next. I ask Ms Howard to address that. I also ask her to address how non-performing loans will be approached. Is it Ulster Bank's intention to engage with vulture funds?

Ms Howard said there would be no new compulsory redundancies. As others said, I hope that Ulster Bank will give us a commitment not to carry out branch closures during the pandemic and not to have compulsory redundancies during the pandemic especially given that we know there are limits on redundancy entitlements during this time.