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

Some 17% of people in Ireland are unbanked and that is why the financial inclusion project was set up. The Minister of State mentioned in his response the pilot project that was run by the Department of Finance. The remarkable thing about that was that An Post was not included in the pilot project. That is why there was such a low uptake of the standard bank account, because people simply did not trust the banks enough to open an account with them. The vast majority of the 17% of people who are unbanked are probably people in receipt of social welfare who use the post office network to get their payments. The fact the post office should be able to have the standard bank account makes perfect sense in terms of financial inclusion and promoting financial inclusion. Unfortunately, the only ones who do not seem to see that are those in Government.

The Minister mentioned the post office development group launched its consultation in May. On the same day it published its six-point consultation, the Department of Social Protection was sending out forms to clients encouraging them to open bank accounts and to move away from the post office. There are different Departments working to different agendas and there is not a united vision across Government in this regard. Unfortunately, that is the role on which the Minister of State's Department is falling down. He must get a grip on it and ensure there is a uniform response right across Government.

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