Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The only thing that would be worse than a government shrugging, something which this Government is not doing, is a politician putting forward ideas he or she knows cannot be implemented. One does not work with the ECB with regard to capital charges or risk weightings. These decisions are made independently by regulators, which is as it should be. Given the Deputy's references to market structure and economic theory, I would have thought he would appreciate the principle of independent regulation.

With regard to the practical solutions which the Deputy has, in fairness, put on the table regarding the work of An Post and our credit union movement, we are supporting that movement and An Post. Over the period of the pandemic, An Post has put in place new services and has tried to move towards offering services it has not offered in the past. All that is happening. As I said at the start, however, I acknowledge that the exit of a second bank from Ireland so soon after Ulster Bank making the same decision is a really serious development for our banking sector. We have competition within the sector but it is also the case that we clearly have fewer banks left. That is a matter of concern to me, as is the question of how to sustain a competitive dynamic for banking services within our economy.