Mr. Gavin Kelly:

In the context of Oughterard, three branches will be closing in County Galway but we will have 15 remaining locations in that county. There will also be access, by means of the post office contract, to 66 post offices across the county. We have a lot of coverage. The services we are looking at in post offices will be cheque lodgement and cash withdrawal, with some access to coin services. The coverage from post offices will be there and should be sufficient to cover the needs of our customers, as well as the remaining 15 branches in Galway and 169 throughout the country.

I am aware of the concern regarding ATM-only cards. We are contacting any customers who still have those cards and they will be upgraded to debit cards, which will allow full access to facilities at ATMs, as the Deputy referred to, operated by Euronet. Part of the reason for giving six months' notice is so we can have one-to-one consultations with customers over the course of the next number of months to ensure that everybody's service continues as they wish, notwithstanding the changes we have talked about. They will be able to continue that service and bank in the way they choose, post the changes in September.