John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a number of questions for Ms McDonagh, the first of which is on post offices. What type of analysis has the bank carried out on the benefit that will accrue to post offices arising from their dealings with the Bank of Ireland? What will each post office gain from the partnership? It has been suggested to us that the partnership will yield very little in fees to the post offices and will not make a difference in terms of whether the business closes or remains open. What happens when a post office with which the bank has a contract closes? Has the bank discussed that scenario with the post offices? The branches that have been identified to be closed by the Bank of Ireland over time in my constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny include those in Callan, Graiguenamanagh, Urlingford, Thomastown, Borris and Tullow. In each of those locations, there is a busy local economy strongly supported by the agriculture sector but at least one of the post offices has already been affected in terms of its viability. In our discussions with representatives of the post office network at a national level, we referred to post offices that would have struggled at the best of times and which have been challenged. What analysis has the bank carried out in each of those areas and what is the comparison?

The other issue in these areas is the availability of broadband. Again, in the county towns that are mentioned in Carlow and Kilkenny, the availability of broadband is bad and delivery is not likely to happen for quite some time. Even then, it may not be the fibre optic broadband used in more densely populated areas. What is the future for these post offices? Ms McDonagh has talked it up but at the end of the day, the partnership may be worth €1,000 to some individual post offices in fees but in essence, it will not make much of a difference. The bank is using this partnership to talk up the future of post offices.

I also wish to raise the issue of repossessions. How many decisions on repossession does the bank have right now? How many decisions on the repossession of family homes or similar properties are in the pipeline? Is Bank of Ireland expressing an interest in the Ulster Bank loan book? I am interested in the Davy issue from the point of view of the salary levels for higher executives that have been mentioned. On the one hand, we are talking about the difficulties in Irish banks arising from the crash and the interest rates that are being paid but on the other hand, we have enormous salaries being paid to higher executives. The two issues are not matching; there is room for salary increases but no room for interest rate decreases.

In terms of negotiations with customers who are in difficulty, I have a question that could be posed to every bank and not just Bank of Ireland. Where the bank is negotiating on the debt of a family, individual or business and there is a death by suicide, how does the bank separate that out and deal with in a more sympathetic and sensitive way? Has the bank learned lessons in terms of how to deal with people in trouble in the context of getting them over the line with a better arrangement? What has been the bank's experience in this regard?

I also wish to raise the matter of internal investigations. First, I thank Bank of Ireland for the engagement I have had with senior executives. While the engagement may not bear fruit, it has been positive in terms of the experience and understanding given to the customer from it. In one or two of the engagements in which I was involved, an internal investigation was under way. The external view on the debt was that it was affected by the tracker issue but the internal view was that it was not, very definitely. The two views were completely at odds with each other and while the financial services ombudsman service exists and issues can be referred on, I was surprised that the bank does not use an outside resource in the context of an examination of issues that arise between the bank and the customer or an understanding of the questions that are being asked of the bank.