Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I shall pursue the matter of the 760 people who are to lose their jobs and become unemployed in a employment market in which there are few, if any, other available jobs for them. When did the Government first hear this bank was going to close its branch network? Was there any meeting between any Minister and a representative of this bank to discuss its plans? When the chief executive of the bank informed the staff yesterday that they were to lose their jobs he said other options had been under consideration since last summer. What were those other options? Did they include a suggestion of this bank being part of a possible amalgamation or rearrangement with other banking institutions in the State?

What is the Taoiseach's understanding of what will happen to the bank's business now that its branch network is to be closed? In particular, what is his understanding of the position of mortgage holders in this bank? We recall that this was the bank which arrived to great cheers, with a buccaneer approach to lending. It was the first to give 100% mortgages, it introduced the tracker mortgage and, apparently, has 7% of the mortgage market. What is the position of a person who has a mortgage with this bank and who may have difficulty repaying it, as many people now have? Do we know what is the disposition of the bank with regard to mortgage holders? I refer, for example, to a mortgage holder who had access to a branch and will not now have that access, in terms of talking with somebody in the bank about renegotiating mortgage terms. Has there been any discussion with the bank in respect of those matters?

Will the Taoiseach tell the House when the Government found out about the bank's intentions? What meetings, if any, did it have? What actions does the Government contemplate to deal with this matter?

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