Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The point of my question is that 17% of people in the country do not have access to a bank account. Most of them are probably social welfare recipients who are the customers of the Minister's Department. While recognising the role of An Post in facilitating payments and its success in becoming the preferred bidder, I also know that the Department's preference is to move to electronic payments, with the aim of having only 3% payments made in cash by 2017. This will have very serious implications for the recipients of social welfare payments and also for An Post and the viability of its network. The basic payment account is very important for the recipients of social welfare payments who could continue to access their payments through the use of this account at the post office. The Department should have a role in the roll-out of the basic payment account to ensure post offices can provide that service for the Department's clients and that the system works. I ask the Minister to ensure the Department of Finance will make this happen.

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