Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In the first instance, I want to be associated with remarks by other Senators in relation to the rumours about Cariban, the drug that treats hyperemesis. I hope they are more than rumours. It is about time we dealt with this issue. I raised it in the House before and welcome any move the Department might make on this to make life easier for women who suffer from a debilitating condition that often requires hospitalisation.

We also read reports today that certain types of payments are soaring, particularly contactless and online payments in banking. Contactless payments have increased by almost 50% and online payments by more than 10%. It is part of a trend we have seen over a number of years that has taken people out of their bank branches. That must make life easier for banks. We are lucky we have a system that is quite developed in terms of its technological aspects. I myself do almost all my banking online. Despite the fact that people have been moved online and use systems that reduce the burden on banks, we still have banks in this country that treat their customers with absolute contempt. It is no longer encouraged to go into a branch. Even when a person goes into a branch, the first thing he or she does is meet somebody who is trying to divert him or her away from actually speaking to a human being. A person cannot even ring his or her branch. Yesterday, I tried to ring my branch in Dún Laoghaire. I spent 29 minutes on hold to speak to somebody in a call centre who finally agreed to connect me to somebody in the bank.

I know we have lost banks in the last couple of years and that they have exited the market. We still have a retail banking system that occupies an especially privileged position within our economy, however. It is not good enough for banks to have no respect and no regard for their customers. It is not the case in other European countries. I have lived abroad and seen the way banks behave there. Here, we have a situation where banks seem to view customers as an obstacle rather than the asset to the bank. I would like to have a debate in this House with the Minister for Finance or the appropriate Minister about what we can do about that. We must send out a very clear message to banks that this cannot continue.