Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The banks got away with a lot that they should not have got away with. They have been able, at breakneck speed, to automate most of their branches. They should not have been allowed to do this. The process should have been done in a very slow, methodical and incremental way. Some of these branches in rural Ireland have been automated literally overnight. The banks have very reluctantly made staff available to assist people in dealing with the automation. What Bank of Ireland was proposing last week was a step too far. I acknowledge the fact it abandoned the proposal but some form of legislation is required to ensure banks provide a basic level of service, which they are providing at the moment. However, I fear that once they get the opportunity, they will remove that basic level of service. We need to consider legislation to enforce and ensure the provision of a basic level of service to older people and to people who are disabled and unable to use the automated technology. There is a responsibility to the citizens of the State to provide them with the opportunities to perform small financial transactions in those financial institutions which, ultimately, were saved and bailed out by the taxpayer.