Ms Francesca McDonagh:

The way the Deputy has described our decision is not how I would entirely characterise our approach. I will respond factually. First, as I said in my opening statement, we were very grateful for the support of the taxpayers, which we have repaid more than in full, over eight years ago. However, I appreciate and recognise the history of banking. On our current and future practices, we need to respond to the changes in our customers' preferences. The Deputy will understand that that is how a well-run business should act.

We have announced the closure of 88 branches in the Republic of Ireland and 15 in Northern Ireland. None will be closed until September. In parallel with that announcement, we have announced a partnership with An Post. We already have a partnership with the Post Office in Northern Ireland. That will provide all of our customers with access to their 900 outlets. The reason we are doing this is because there has been a seismic shift in customer behaviour to which we must respond. Yes, it is one third of our branch network but I can assure the Deputy that it is not one third of our footfall. If anything, those branches have been rarely visited. Three out of four customers of those branches have not set foot in them within the past year. Maybe that is partly because of the pandemic but if one looks at the two years preceding the pandemic, one sees the overall footfall in branches across our network reduced by 25%. At the same time, we have seen a significant take-up in mobile usage. As the Deputy will be aware, we launched a new mobile app in 2020 with a 50% increase in functionality. Since we launched it, we have had an increase of over 26% in take-up. Therefore, there has been a shift in how our customers want to engage in banking. It has been expedited by the pandemic but it is a process that has been ongoing for probably the last decade. We have responded to customer preference in our decision to close branches.

The Minister for Finance is obviously a key stakeholder in the bank. The State owns a 14% minority shareholding. The Minister has said on public record that it is not his responsibility to influence or impact commercial decisions that are taken by the bank. We have taken those commercial decisions in reflection of customer behaviour. I hope I have answered the Deputy's question.