Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State's comprehensive response.

What really gets me, however, is the carry-on of the banks. The announcement today by Bank of Ireland that it is closing over 100 branches across the State - three in Clare in the towns of Tulla, Kilkee and Milltown Malbay - is an appalling kick in the teeth to the people in those communities who stood behind the bank when the State bailed it out to protect our banking system. That is the reward these communities are now getting from the upper echelons of Bank of Ireland. These communities stood behind that bank when it needed support. Now it is turning its back, using the reduction in footfall as an excuse. People cannot go to the banks because they are not able to travel and have been told to stay at home except for essential purposes. It is hardly a surprise that the numbers going through the doors of the banks have reduced.

We are trying to tell everybody that we will get beyond the pandemic and the other side of Covid, allowing people to be free to move around again. Before we get the restrictions lifted and before we get to the other side of Covid, the bigwigs in the boardroom of the Bank of Ireland have decided to pull the shutters down in Tulla, Kilkee and Milltown Malbay. It is wrong and it needs to be challenged by the Government.