Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The rights and wrong of the bank bailout and guarantee could be and, no doubt, will be debated for decades but I am certain that, had they not been bailed out, all of those staff would have lost their jobs ten or 12 years ago. That is exactly what happened to the staff at Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and other banks which were allowed to fail.

The banking sector is changing, like many sectors. It is moving online, being digitalised and automated. That is happening in the real world around us. The vast majority of people no longer set foot in a bank branch, whereas people used to regularly go into bank branches. That has changed and the sector has to adapt to that. I had a good meeting with the Financial Services Union a few weeks ago to discuss some of the changes. One thing they have suggested is a banking forum being established to think through what the future of banking services will look like in the country. I am taking that up with the Minister for Finance.

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