Ms Francesca McDonagh:

I will respond to the Deputy's first questions as to whether we would reassess and our views on the challenges of national broadband coverage. I will ask Mr. Kelly to talk about the specifics of Wicklow, how we are supporting colleagues in the branches that are due to close, whether in Wicklow or more broadly, and the An Post discussion.

We will not reassess closures. I will explain why. We have not taken this decision lightly. We have looked at the behaviours and preferences of our customers over a long period of time, even before the Covid pandemic. I will give the Deputy a perspective on all the customers in the 88 branches that will be closed. Three out of four of them have not set foot in the branch in the last 12 months. There has been a seismic reduction in volumes since even before Covid. We are not in the business of closing busy branches. We are responding to a shift in customer behaviour. I know it is disappointing for communities, but it is not a surprise that people are shifting to online consumption, whether that is of entertainment, groceries or how we buy many things, including banking. Obviously, there is an element in local villages and towns of a re-emergence, with people working from home, and nearly 80% of our colleagues are working from home, of people who will shop local or go local. However, we are seeing, particularly as the country reopens, that people are keen to get back into pubs, restaurants, cinemas and local gyms, but they are not necessarily looking forward to going back to bank branches. They have already migrated to a more digital experience. It is a little like the fact that once one discovers Netflix, one will not necessarily go back to DVDs. We see that shift as permanent and established. We have not come to this decision lightly. We have looked at a great deal of analysis and at footfall trends over a number of years.

That is how we got to this decision, which I appreciate is a difficult one. We think it is a reflection of customer demand.

On national broadband, I appreciate that there may be challenges. After the closures, our network will contain 169 branches, 103 of which are located outside the main urban city centres. It is not the case that branches will only be seen in urban areas and not in rural Ireland. We will maintain a presence across the country and if an individual has poor broadband, we still have 169 branches, access to 900 An Post outlets and a contact centre that operates 24-7, 365 days a year. There are alternatives for people who are not able or do not wish to engage with us digitally, but we are seeing that the vast majority of all ages are. I revert to Mr. Kelly to talk more about Wicklow specifically.