Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for my invisibility. For some reason, my machine has not been operating properly. I welcome our guests and thank them for their candour and for their replies to the various questions. It has been quite informative.

Electronically-driven business is good and works very effectively and efficiently from the point of view of those who can operate it but there is a question of visibility. This is something the bank will have to address throughout the country, in urban and rural areas. I believe there is a necessity, in order to do business as a bank, to have a visible entity that people can identify with.

I fully acknowledge the activities of the banks' regional managers and its experts in the various fields of agribusiness and other businesses. Over the past five to seven years, I have used them in connection with various constituents who ran into difficulties and I thank the bank for having this facility.

I have also put my following question to the Governor of the Central Bank. As we move out of Covid there will be a surge or an attempt to revive the economy. I hope it will be very successful and we expect that it will be. Reference has already been made in the course of this debate to the fact that expert opinion is important. Who are the experts in this business? There will come before the bank a series of people who have been badly bashed by Covid, and the same people were bashed by the downturn in the economy with the financial collapse. I have had experience of the bank's performance in this area but it is hugely important from here on in that those who assess the viability of a project, particularly when the restrictions are lifted, know what they are at and that it does not always revert back to one person or to one or two people making a decision that impacts on the lives of those who have been in the particular business over a long number of years. These people have worked extremely hard. They have worked at building up their businesses. They have sweated blood and tears to keep them in place . It has not always happened and it has not been their fault. It was not necessarily the fault of the bank either. The fact of the matter is that we have reached the position we are now in. The bank's customers cannot take a further bashing. All I ask is that the bank is sympathetic towards them and allows them to make their case on the basis of their judgment and history, and their ability to survive where many others did not.