Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will come in on that point if I may. We have seen in some cases a number of banks becoming cashless. People who walk in cannot take out cash and cannot necessarily meet a cashier or bank teller. I am probably of the old school in that I do not have Revolut and I barely have the mobile app on my phone. It is discommoding to people. It is not just a rural issue. It is an urban issue as well in terms of bank closures. Today I saw that a bank in Cork was selling off three of its properties, and that is their prerogative. I know the ombudsman probably has no role in this, but we need to make a stand in terms of the provision of services for people. It goes back to the whole issue of customer care and customer service. If the dilution of customer care and customer service continues, the ombudsman's office will be inundated and there will be a deluge of complaints. I am genuinely concerned that there is a diminution of service. We are moving to an online platform, which I know will happen eventually in total, but I am concerned about that and I hope the ombudsman's office would promulgate, advise and advocate that we should also have an element of customer care and customer service physically on the ground. The banks cannot just use the words "change" and "Covid" to herald that sort of movement away from the on-street banks to the online platform. I know I am old fashioned and probably in the minority in that regard, but it is something about which I feel strongly.