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

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Not to be coy about this but I see a banking forum as a first step to talking about public banking, something for which Green Party has pushed for a long time. It would speak to issues around regional access to banking. It is something to which 21 countries in Europe have access, but we do not. We do not have that level of competition or choice in the banking sector for people in Ireland.

The idea that a banking forum is somehow unacceptable and that the Minister would not want to be involved in a forum that speaks to his Department is somewhat problematic considering that we are talking about a fully regulated industry. Not to criticise the public consultation framework, because the Green Party is very pro-public consultation, but public consultation often involves the Department having made a series of decisions, publishing a report or creating a development programme or a plan, and then putting it out to the public to ask what it thinks about the decisions it is making. That is not what a forum would be. It would involve bringing everybody into a room, identifying the issues and working together to find a solution. That is more formative in the decision-making process than a public consultation. In terms of the crisis the banking sector is facing, the Department's usual approach will not do the job. This is more primary than that. We are in a more difficult situation. This is not about public consultation; it is about community decision-making. We need to look at it on that level.

I accept that the Minister of State is bringing the decision here from the Minister. In 2019, the Indecon report on public banking was published. It stated we did not need public banking or a more considered discussion in respect of it because there was no failure in the industry. In 2021, there is a failure in the industry and we need to talk about it.

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