Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and appreciate his reply. Limerick has been disproportionately affected by this decision. No other county that AIB has left has a comparable geographical make-up. I must pay tribute to local management and staff, which have been engaging with people.

It is a pity that AIB did not consider the implications before making its announcement. There was no engagement with An Post at local level. To my knowledge, most of the post offices had not been visited by AIB prior to the announcement. The announcement was made without examining logistical tolerances or determining whether the decision would be manageable. The affected communities saw no engagement.

As the Minister of State knows, the region from Limerick to Listowel on the Shannon Estuary, an area that includes the country's largest deep water port, has been deprived of an AIB presence. South-west Limerick from Newcastle West to Mallow and the area from Doon to Tipperary are large regions with isolated communities and have been representative of loyal AIB customers, given the fact that AIB was the only bank with a presence therein. With the exception of Croom, the bank is not closing branches in any town where it must face competition. Both this decision and the manner in which the closures were announced were cynical. It is a pity that the bank is fixated on maintaining its timeframe without engaging with communities properly despite the fact that those communities remained loyal to it at a time when it was going to the wall.

The State is the bank's largest shareholder and I understand the commercial sensitivities and the fact that the Minister's hands are tied. However, it behoves the Oireachtas to tell AIB that its loyal customers and staff of many years were shabbily treated by the manner in which the announcement was made. Will the Department of Finance let the bank's chief executive officer know of the considerable dissatisfaction within political circles regarding how the bank has dealt with this matter? Were it not for the taxpayers keeping AIB and the other banks' doors open, we would not have a banking system. That AIB is closing the door and turning the key, in some cases after more than 100 years, says a great deal about the type of service it will provide loyal customers in future.

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