Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like others, I would like the Minister for Finance to come to the Seanad for a debate on banking, but I appreciate that the budget is next Tuesday and that he is probably going to be tied up preparing what is a very important budget for our economic recovery. Post-budget, when he comes in to address the House on budgetary issues, I would like the Leader to make the Minister aware that this House has enormous concerns over banking. I witnessed in a branch of Bank of Ireland in Clare recently an 86-year-old man going up to the counter to carry out a transaction and being told he would have to go to a machine, although they would assist him with this. The man was confused and upset. He certainly felt that this Government had turned its back on him, given that it bailed out the banks. Unfortunately trying to explain the dynamics of banking to someone of that age when they are not too happy is not easy.

Similarly, customer service, whether in banking or elsewhere, is extremely important. I have had a number of complaints, as, I am sure, other colleagues have, to my constituency office concerning Irish Water and the length of time people spend on the phone trying to get through to Irish Water. I realise that Irish Water is a national utility which is in its incubation period but at the same time people are now paying for water. They therefore expect that when they make a call, this should be answered and that they should not have to spend money waiting 15 minutes on the phone. I ask the Leader to process a request to Irish Water that they establish a call-back service, whereby when someone is on the phone for a few minutes they will have the option to leave their number so that Irish Water will ring them back.