Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to make some points to the Minister. It is more than a decade since the people bailed out the banks. Unfortunately, we are getting badly thanked for that. Bank of Ireland has announced 103 branch closures in recent days, three of which are in my country. Templemore will now have no bank in the town. Cashel and Cahir, two strong tourist towns, are now to be left without a Bank of Ireland branch. Businessmen will have to travel significant distances with wads of cash to lodge to night safety deposit boxes.

Our most vulnerable people, who depend on the banking structure, are being left without a service. This is again stripping services out of rural Ireland. How can we hope to promote jobs when we are allowing the banks to strip services like this?

The second point I raise is the interest rates being charged by our banks. They are nothing short of extortionate. The latest figures from the Central Bank show Irish mortgage interest rates are still far higher than the EU average. The weighted average interest rate on new Irish mortgage agreements was 2.76% in December, making ours the second highest in Europe, just behind the one in Greece. The average for the euro area stood at 1.29% in December. There was already a clear lack of competition in the Irish banking market before we learned of Ulster Bank's plans to leave it. Essentially, we are now being left with two pillar banks, AIB and Bank of Ireland, which are carving up the market between them and charging what they like for credit facilities. This is making mortgages more expensive and is also making the cost of doing business far more expensive. Where is the benefit of the Single Market when it comes to banking in Ireland? Where is the competition, the international lenders entering the market? Why are Irish consumers paying twice the EU average when we borrow money? We must use our post offices and our credit unions but we also need to attract European banks into the country to make our banking system more competitive and cost effective.

My final point is that many people are struggling financially at the moment and some need a break from payments to keep their heads above water until they are back in work. When I call for a moratorium I mean a full one and not what the banks are offering at the moment. When people get a moratorium, it should be just extended onto their loan at the end and should not bring extra costs to the borrower as it does at the moment. The moratorium is just adding costs for people who are already in trouble.

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