Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Rural Ireland was dealt another blow recently when Ulster Bank announced plans to shut 22 branches between June and September of this year. Two of those branches are located in Ardara and Raphoe in my constituency of Donegal. Once they are closed, it will leave these rural towns without any form of banking facility at all.

Ulster Bank claims the restructuring of its services is required to meet the ongoing cost challenges of RBS, yet this is a flawed rationale. Ulster Bank had a recorded profit of €280 million in 2016 and paid a dividend of €1.5 billion to RBS.

The truth of the matter is that the banks are not interested in addressing the needs of communities. They will always be driven by profit margins, but while private sector banks restructure their businesses and move online, communities still need banking services to survive. How does the Taoiseach expect rural communities to restructure with them? They cannot, and rural communities will suffer as a result.

Banking services are vital to the survival of towns. Reports and studies have shown the consequences of banks retreating from rural communities, not only for customers but also for small business, which Fine Gael loves so much. In the UK, lending to SMEs has reduced by 64%, and the reduction is as much as 104% where the town has no bank left. A town received on average £1.6 million less in lending the year after a closure.

The Taoiseach will reply to me that Ulster Bank is not an Irish institution and the Government cannot intervene. I have already got that from the Minister for Finance. Let me remind the Taoiseach of the consequences facing rural Ireland because the Government refuses to intervene: an ongoing transport crisis, including the latest Bus Éireann dispute, Garda station closures, post office closures, delays in rolling out broadband, continued emigration, and banking closures.

While the Government may not be able to intervene in the latest bank closures, there are issues it can influence. In rural Ireland, we have a network of community banks called credit unions. The Government continues to hide behind the regulator who is doing nothing to facilitate them to develop in a way that can assist their communities and meet the needs of rural towns, for example, funding social housing projects or providing a range of banking services. It is as if, like Ulster Bank, the Government does not care about the needs of rural communities and the Government's policies reflect that in prioritising private sector banks over credit unions.

As well as Ulster Bank's announcement last week, we heard from An Post, in last night's "Prime Time", that it has identified 265 post offices as non-viable. No doubt we will see plans crystalising over the coming months seeking to close these too. Interestingly, McKinsey was consultants to both Ulster Bank and An Post and was the author of their strategies for nationwide closures. No wonder these strategies look so alike.

It is over two years since the Kerr report on the future of the post office network was published. What implementation have we seen by the Government? None. The Government has merely allowed the crisis to deepen. The Taoiseach can avoid taking any responsibility for Ulster Bank and the communities that are being devastated by the bank, but he cannot wring his hands and claim no responsibility for the destruction of the post office network and the continued stifling of credit unions.

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