Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I was upstairs earlier so I listened online. Most of the questions I had have been covered. There are one or two questions I would like to ask. I wish to support the family that wrote to every member of the committee. I know Mr. Jansen gave a commitment that the bank will correspond with or meet the family. I believe a number of people are in a similar situation and fear losing their homes. It is important to stress that. It is also important that they be given a level of service and commitment. I am glad Mr. Jansen has committed to that.

I am a customer of Ulster Bank. I recently went to the bank to work out how to close my account. It is fine for me because I am computer literate. I was able to email my different direct debits and change them over. All of them have changed quite smoothly, bar one, on which I am still trying to communicate. However, a number of older people are very afraid. When they go to the bank they are told they need to do this themselves. That is not right. Somebody must be made available to help these older people because many of them have never used a computer. They have never had to do these kinds of things themselves. I would like a commitment that the different branches will look at helping and supporting older people, especially in respect of transferring their direct debits, because it is not easy to do so if you do not know what you are doing. I also visited the bank to which I am transferring and that has been a good experience. The committee will engage with representatives of those banks later. It is important to get the message out that KBC and Ulster Bank will help, especially older and more vulnerable people.

What will happen with those people who have not come forward or have ignored the letters? They have stayed loyal customers of both banks. They did not ask for the banks to leave; the banks chose to leave. What will happen with those customers? There are quite a few of them. Between the two banks, a couple of hundred thousand customers have not engaged. I would like a response on that, please.