Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In my constituency, the Bank of Ireland branches in Elphin, Strokestown, Ballygar and Dunmore are about to close. This is a significant blow to those communities which have been served by these branches. It will make it far more difficult for those communities to recover from Covid. In some instances, Bank of Ireland does not even provide an ATM in the towns on a 24-7 basis. Prior to Covid, many of these towns were beginning to reinvent themselves, especially with the opportunities provided through Government funding for tourism, rural regeneration and the town and village renewal scheme. The decision by Bank of Ireland will be a significant setback to those plans.

The Government needs to urgently revisit the establishment of a State bank for SMEs and personal customers. I heard what the Minister said about ISIF and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland but those are dependent on having a commercial bank to access those funds through. We need to examine how we can provide a commercial entity for people, whether through An Post or the local credit union network, where infrastructure, facilities and visibility in our communities are already present. A new State bank offering low interest rates without personal guarantees is now required to support both businesses and communities as they begin to reopen and emerge from this lockdown.

Before the pandemic, 250,000 SMEs accounted for 99.8% of the total enterprises in the country and 65% of total employment. As we know, SMEs have been the backbone of the economy, especially outside our cities, and have been key employers outside the urban areas of our major cities and conurbations. They need to have backing and access to vital capital. It is also important that we provide cheap green finance to homeowners and landlords to upgrade housing stock. We should issue a loan for retrofitting homes at a 0% rate. An Post has already started by launching its green hub loan scheme, but that is at an interest rate of 4.9%. It is far too expensive. Cheap money needs to be made available to these homes.

Last October, David McRedmond, the chief executive officer of An Post, wrote to the Department of Finance, setting out An Post's ambitious financial services strategy and the key role it has played in enabling SMEs to trade, both domestically and internationally. He said An Post would be keen to be part of any solution that may be considered by the Department of Finance to facilitate competition in the market. Has the Department of Finance responded to the offer made by Mr. McRedmond?

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