Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am happy with that and I know that the Minister of State will endeavour to give me an honest reply. I am not surprised with the answer that I have been given already. The Minister of State is right, in that the Government's part ownership of the bank is small and it cannot tell the bank what to do but, as a rural Deputy, he will realise that there is a larger problem. I presume that he runs constituency clinics. I happened to hold one last Monday in the town of Glenamaddy of "Four Roads to Glenamaddy" fame. It lost its bank some time back. Most of its people are served by Bank of Ireland in Castlerea, but they have received notice that business lodgements can no longer be made over the counter after 12.30 p.m. on a Monday or whatever, which is inconvenient. The bank will argue that business lodgements can be made through machines and that there will be a service. We could argue that back and forth.

The great community in Glenamaddy, including its business people and community leaders, has made the point to me that the removal of a bank from a town like Glenamaddy, Ballygar, Strokestown or Elphin creates a significant difficulty for the local economy. Banks are needed.

Maybe we have to start getting serious about post offices and credit unions. Yesterday, the bank insisted to me that it would not withdraw. I have to say that Bank of Ireland runs some good initiatives, for example, Enterprise Towns, and encourages people to get involved. Like the Minister of State, I have attended many such events. They are good but I fear that, if fewer customers attend a branch, we will be asking four or five years down the road what role the bank has.

As politicians, we all must get serious about having a banking system for rural towns and villages. Some good work is being done and some money is coming into communities, but we will lose out if we lose our banking services.

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