Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Let us recap what we are talking about as regards job losses. In Bank of Ireland there will be 1,400 to 1,700 redundancies. In Ulster Bank 2,800 jobs are in jeopardy, as are 300 at PTSB and 1,500 at AIB. The grand total is more than 6,000. It is not good enough for the Government to say market forces rule and it is not going to interfere, or it appealed to the boards of the banks to play by the Queensberry rules, etc. A pause should be put on these redundancies and closures, at the very least until the end of the Covid pandemic. The FSU has raised the idea of a banking forum, which could look at issues such as improving customer services, improving the work-life balance of staff and so on. Perhaps optional redeployment into other areas could be part of that forum. What does the Minister have to say about that proposal put forward by that trade union?

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