Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join my colleague, Senator Bacik, in extending our sympathy to the Treacy family following their ordeal arising from the death of their son, Ciarán, in a drunk driving incident. I certainly hope that yesterday is a turning point in our attitude towards drink-driving. I applaud the very strong and emotional comments made by Judge Keenan Johnson yesterday. To continue highlighting this issue, I ask the Leader for a debate in this House in the coming weeks on road safety, with particular reference to drink-driving. It can no longer be acceptable that anybody would sit behind the steering wheel of a car and put the lives of people at risk, having consumed alcohol. We need zero tolerance in this regard.

I support my colleagues on the other side of the House who have called for a debate on the banking system and attitudes following the recent announcement by Bank of Ireland on plans to deal with customers. We all accept that technology is the way forward and we want to maximise the benefits in continually improving technology, but not everybody is comfortable using it. Those people want human contact in banks when they want to transact business, and that wish must be respected. On a number of occasions I have spoken about the attitude of the banks to small customers as well as to the business community with respect to lodgements and how they are accepted. We need to discuss the matter.The only banking organisation that seems to have any interest whatsoever in serving customers is the credit union movement. I want to see that sector strengthened such that it is in a position to provide a broader service to the public.