Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I very much agree with the point the Senator is making. It is not acceptable for banks to refuse to send representatives to a public meeting in circumstances where a local banking service is potentially being withdrawn. Given the long-standing relationships that exist in this community and the customer base the bank has built up, the failure to engage is particularly disappointing. If it is right and proper that politicians should attend public meetings to account for themselves, it is equally right and proper for bank management to do the same. Such engagement would, if nothing else, allow management to explain its position.

As I said in my reply, branch closures are an inevitable consequence of the bank restructuring programme which the Government has initiated. Nine out of ten transactions are now conducted online, with in-branch business accounting for only 10% of transactions. That is the direction in which banking is moving at a global level. Nevertheless, banks have an obligation to engage with local communities and to make their case, rather than running away and asking politicians to do their job for them. The Senator will appreciate, however, that my Department cannot involve itself directly in this or any other individual case. All such matters must be commercial decisions for the banks themselves. We are precluded from intervention in these cases, as is right and proper. The banks must focus on returning their business to profitability so that, ultimately, the State can get back the money we have had to pump into these entities in recent years. While management must do what it considers necessary to achieve that end, part of that must include an engagement with the loyal customers who had no part in the decisions which bankrupted the banks. The people in the area to which the Senator referred are entitled to an explanation and he is absolutely right to point that out.