James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like other speakers, I strongly support the initiative. Also, I was very determined that its representatives would come before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation, as well as the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach because of one matter. The cost of doing business in this country, affordability and access to credit, which we have considered as a committee on many occasions is an issue that crops up repeatedly.

The Central Bank's SME report has produced serious information. The statistics clearly identify that there was an increase in the rejection rate of loan applications, which is up 13.9%, between March and September last year. To those who claim there is no problem I say that there is a serious problem. With the closure of branches it means that banks will become increasingly less involved in community and, therefore, less able to understand people's business. In the past, due to a culture of a bonus operated rewards system or common system, emphasis was placed on lending and not what one was lending for.

In terms of the post office, I echo many of the comments that have been made. Its importance to rural Ireland, and in my cases urban Ireland, cannot be overstated. We need to support them. It seems to me that the Kiwi Bank is certainly a model that should be considered, in terms of the post offices. I still want to see Sparkassen in this country too. As others have said, Sparkassen has a history of 200 years of supporting their communities, of a not-for-profit bank that has survived world wars and major depressions. They want their model to be adopted by this country. Unfortunately, the code of the bank does not allow them to set up and own other banks in other countries. People support the Sparkassen model and it trains people and helps to establish units. Of course, we also have our excellent credit unions.

I want to see an increasing number of facilities being made available through our post office network, which is critically important. If we lose them then we will never get them back and, believe me, we will rue that decision dearly. We have discussed rural Ireland and the supports that the Government has put in yet we know that shops are closing, the local doctor is leaving and an ever increasing number of services are operated centrally.We talk about rural Ireland and the supports the Government have put in but we know that shops are closing, the local doctor is going and more and more services are being centralised. Some of that is unavoidable but the post office and its network is clearly a huge asset. It can still deliver for us and can deliver an alternative to the pillar banks that we have at the moment. The same is true of the Sparkassen model as well. Like others, I will be going over to see that in operation later this year. I wish to ask the Minister, as others have, where the report is. The response to a parliamentary question a month ago was that it is imminent but yet it is not to be seen. We cannot move this situation on until such time as we have that report. We could be on the brink of a revolution, akin to the revolution in agriculture when farmers came together to form co-operatives and then communities of co-operatives, after which those co-operatives ultimately became larger and now sell Irish products all over the world. They are a huge success story. The current Government and its predecessor have brought huge social change to Ireland with the marriage equality referendum, the end of corporal punishment against children by getting rid of the defence of reasonable chastisement and, more recently, by giving women rights over their bodies and their reproduction. Why can we not now have revolution and real change in our financial services-----