Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is a substantial change in the Department's documentation, giving more prominence and a direction to commercial banks. This is what is available in Ireland at the moment. If the Department changed the form to indicate that if the customer does not wish to indicate a post office, he or she could indicate a financial institution, then it would be a difference and would recognise the prominence that has been given to the post office and the postal service in this country in terms of social welfare payments over the years. It does not prevent either pensioners or those in receipt of child benefit from getting payment in a financial institution, but it is a difference of emphasis. The Department needs to look at that.

There is an extra cost on senior citizens or anyone using banks in this country. In the past I was with EBS and I had free banking. I do not have that anymore because the State took over AIB and EBS and every transaction now has a cost. I can sustain that, but those on social welfare do not necessarily have the ability to sustain an extra cost.

The last question was to do with fraud. One of the quickest ways to deal with fraud is for a social welfare customer to present in person to the post office with a card. In that way the customer has a one-to-one transaction with an official, whereas banking can be done anonymously and there is no need to have that interaction.

See this speech in context