Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his comments. They are points he has made on many occasions. I was a member of this committee for many years and took part in many of the hearings it had with the banks. We had many robust exchanges. We made progress on some issues and did not make progress on others. However, it is true that the Government is not directly involved in running the banks, even those in which it has shares. We have an interest, of course, in the services they provide and the impact of any changes in those services on the economy and the communities that are supported by those services.

The banks are operating in a very challenging environment at present, as the Deputy would acknowledge, given the interest rate environment and the lack of returns that are available at this point. We need to ask ourselves why a bank such as Ulster Bank, which has been in this country for 160 years, or its parent company NatWest Group would make the decision to depart from the Irish market. We must think very carefully about the issues which led to that decision, because it has been a difficult and bad week for the customers and staff of Irish banks, given the combination of the Ulster Bank announcement. It was devastating that the third largest bank operating in the Irish market would signal its departure, albeit over a period of a number of years. The Government will do all it can to manage the fallout from that. We welcome the ongoing engagement with Permanent TSB and AIB regarding what role they may play. Notwithstanding that, it is still a very serious and adverse development.

The closure of bank branches is a recognition of a number of factors which the bank outlined yesterday. However, it means we must do all we can to support the post office network and the credit unions to ensure that where services being provided by one institution are lost to a community, those services are replaced by another institution. That is the key issue. There are many businesses in communities that require cash services. They require the service of going to a bank branch and lodging cash. They cannot afford to travel 15 or 20 miles or further to do that because of the cost involved, the time and the security issues that are raised as a result. I welcome the announcement by An Post, and we need to see the full detail of that over time. That will be important to reassure customers that those essential services can continue.