Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

By chance I received an e-mail in the past hour from a woman in Enniscorthy in which she wrote:

I started working in the bank in 1980. At that time the sign over the door read, Dublin Savings Bank. I left the bank 30 years later in 2010 after witnessing many changes, not only the name over the door but the way banking business was done. During my employment I was hard-working and loyal and I was bound by the terms of my contract and obliged to save part of my income each month toward my pension. I am sure you can understand now how horrified I am to learn that the chief executive of Permanent TSB, Mr. Masding, is making the decision to wind up the pension scheme. By doing so, he puts my future and the future of my family in jeopardy. The action he is about to take will wipe out any hope I ever had to afford a good education for my child and will place me and my family in the position of asking the State for financial assistance in our older years.


We, the staff, have worked hard over the years to grow the bank. We have honoured our commitment to the bank and it is not right when the management decides to take advantage of employees and make them pay the price of the failure. Are you aware that the funding situation is not only due to poor marketing performance but to the lack of urgency and procrastination by the management of the bank to address the problems for the last five years?

Surely the Minister agrees there is false economy involved. The people concerned may end up being dependent on the State in some way and they will be unable to contribute to the domestic economy in the manner they would have expected. It is a case of losers all round. It is nuts.

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