Ms Elizabeth Arnett:

The Deputy is absolutely right. We are very conscious of the fact that our withdrawal put a lot of emphasis and pressure on other stakeholders, other banks and the direct debit originators because a customer cannot fully complete the journey without the support of those stakeholders. We started a very early process of engagement across the industry. We were all involved in that. We brought in what we considered the top 20 direct debit originators, including the large utility companies, the telephone service providers and the insurance providers, to inform them of our plans and the number of accounts coming through. We have, by and large, seen a very positive response from those service providers, making it much easier for customers to change their details online or over the phone, and just having the information to hand for customers. In the past four weeks, BPFI hosted a session with direct debit originators to attempt to check how things are going. Direct debit originators that started early are further ahead in their engagement, it would be fair to say. Those are more in the energy provider space. I think those companies are more tuned in. Perhaps that is unfair because it would imply that others are not, but those companies engaged with us on these issues from a very early stage of the process.

We have seen a huge decrease in the number of direct debit transactions across the board, not just in the early tranches. We have seen the levels come down. We have not come across any situation where it is prohibitively difficult for customers to make the changes. If customers do have issues, we raise them directly through our engagement with the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland, BPFI, which is engaging with the direct debit originators. There is nothing I can point to that could be described as a blocker in terms of the issues and concerns.

Initially there was a concern that if everybody used the switcher process, it might be a challenge for direct debit originators, but we are finding that most customers are driving the process themselves, with about 10% using the switcher process and using it effectively. One of the concerns we have is that customers who do not close their accounts may not fully conclude their direct debit processes. They might assume we are going to close the account but the direct debit will not get taken from the account. There could be unintended consequences if an account is left open, so we are watching those sorts of things to make sure that does not happen.

In terms of payments in, the big one according to our engagements is the Department of Social Protection. As I said earlier, we are about 85% of the way there, but as we move on in that process, we are going to see more and more vulnerable customers who have not made the change and we are going to work very closely with the Department to resolve that with them. We have exchanged data and the Department is contacting customers directly whose notice period is coming to an end. The contact from us and from the Department is proving to be very effective. Over the weekend, for example, another 2,000 accounts moved on. It is a work in progress and the broader external communications campaign supports all of that. In the later tranches, we are seeing customers starting to make changes earlier in the journey. We just need to stay on it and be there to support customers as much as we can.