Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I join a surprising amount of my colleagues tonight in asking that we would once again consider public banking. I am very aware that we have had this discussion previously. I accept the Minister's points about the ISIF and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland but, as we have heard tonight, the Ulster Bank and Bank of Ireland announcements will come as a particular blow to SMEs that already face the twin challenges of Brexit and the impact of Covid. As the Minister said, Ireland is a small market in financial terms and will always be at risk of a privately owned bank making the same decision that Ulster Bank has made. Ulster bank had been in this country for 160 years and was reporting profits but felt that its capital and efforts could be deployed more profitably in larger markets. That is a decision that makes sense for Ulster Bank. It is also a decision that may make sense for any privately owned bank in the Irish market and that is one of the reasons we need a public bank with a defined regional basis that is profit making but not profit maximising.

In 2019 the Government published an independent report undertaken by Indecon which found that there was not a compelling economic case for the establishment of a new State-owned public banking network because there was sufficient competition in the banking sector and no sign of market failure. However, this is now no longer the case. The removal of banking facilities from communities has an immediate impact on financial inclusion and on the relationship between SMEs and access to credit regionally. In a number of recent reports both An Post and the credit union sector have been identified as points of access to financial services within communities. However, a failure to expand the remit of credit union financial services and the constrained nature of banking services within An Post, which operates only as a service provider for the pillar banks, minimises growth and profit for both organisations.

The Green Party believes - and will hopefully publish a paper on this tomorrow - that a public or community bank supported by the credit unions and An Post would be a locally focused organisation with a mandate to serve the community in its region by providing finance and other modern banking services to the real economy. This would fill the space previously occupied by ACC and ICC which were unfortunately sold to commercial banks during the Celtic tiger years. Public banks such as these number some 1,000 and exist in 21 countries across Europe. They are not a strange animal. I urge the Minister and the Department to now set aside the 2019 Indecon report which has proven to be incorrect in its confidence in the existing banking sector and begin again to consider a public banking model. In the time remaining, I would like to hear an answer on whether there are any likely new entrants to the sector.

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