Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise an issue that has been brought to my attention in recent days. It is not a question of the closure of bank branches but the fact that there will be no tellers in a number of Bank of Ireland branches in different areas from now on. A lot of vulnerable people who are not used to dealing with bank cards and who have dealt with bank tellers all of their lives are now being told that there will be nobody in the branches. There will only be a machine, into which they must stick their card.

I spoke to an older lady yesterday who told me that the nearest post office is two miles away from her home and it would cost €10 in a taxi to get to the nearest bank with a teller. She is afraid to stick her card into the ATM. This is something that is frightening older people. Smaller bank branches are closing down and only the larger banks are being kept open. This is an issue that will affect people all over the country and I ask the Leader to organise a debate on it in the near future.