Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday I attended a briefing hosted by the Public Banking Forum of Ireland. Its analysis demonstrated that Irish commercial banks, which are so-called pillar banks, hold a market share of roughly 95% of the Irish market while their German counterparts, commercial banks which include Deutsche Bank and others, hold a mere 12.5% share of the German banking market. That might be little to worry about if the banks in this State did not insist on maintaining their stranglehold on the creation of credit and insist on operating from principles directly opposed to the public and the common good.

Serious concerns are now being raised about the completely dysfunctional nature of our banks and the blasé attitude of the Central Bank and, indeed, senior Department of Finance officials. They are simply not working and when is the Government going to wake up to this? Why, for example, do privately owned commercial banks hold a monopoly on credit creation? Why do these same banks also have monopoly control over the repayments systems? These are structural issues that further subordinate our credit unions and post offices and make it almost impossible for them to expand their range of activities. One of the most serious questions, however, is why Irish SMEs and small family businesses have to pay Irish banks almost double or treble the average European interest rates, which are 2% in Germany and 6% to 7% here. If a person is pushed onto an overdraft, which many are, it is up to 15% or 16%.

What has happened to the European Single Market? Where are our friends?

Is it any wonder that Prime Minister May has pulled the trigger today on Article 50 and we have Brexit? Why have successive Irish Governments discriminated against the credit unions and post offices through a host of restrictions on the products and services they can offer? It is happening even today. We are told that we can apply for passports online, which takes away business from the post offices as well.

During the talks on the programme for Government, my Rural Independent Group colleagues and I insisted that there be a commitment to examine the possibility of introducing a public banking model in Ireland. So far, there has been only lip-service and total inaction by the Government. The Minister is not Taoiseach yet, as Deputy Micheál Martin said, but he is one of the senior Ministers and he has done nothing about it only rub his hands with glee. ISME has stated that access to finance and credit is among the top three concerns for SMEs. It has done untold damage to the real economy every day of the week and is creating absolute torture for small businesses, farm families and all of the individuals with mortgages who simply cannot get access to credit or increase their cash flows. As I said, interest rates in Germany are at 2% but in Ireland are at 5%, 6% or 7%.

The banking model in this State needs a root-and-branch reform. The good people who produced yesterday's report made a good stab at this. I really appreciate that. They are volunteers and not paid officials of the Department or of anybody else or hired guns. The banking model in this State needs a root-and-branch reform. We simply cannot allow the punitive monopoly of the pillar banks to continue. Will the Minister commit to introducing the public banking model along the lines of those that operate to the huge benefit of communities in Germany, Europe's largest economy, where public banking and community banks have a 70% market share?

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