Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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To ask the Minister for Finance if he will intervene with AIB in relation to the proposed closure of the branch in Rush, County Dublin, which affects more than 10% of the total numbers affected by the 67 closures, concentrated in one community. [42247/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As you will be aware, operational decisions for the covered banks – AIB, Bank of Ireland, IBRC and Permanent TSB - remain the responsibility of the boards and managements of the institutions. Notwithstanding the fact that the State is a significant shareholder in these institutions, I must ensure that the banks are run on a commercial, cost effective and independent basis to ensure the value of the banks as an asset to the State. The Relationship Frameworks between the Minister for Finance and each bank define the nature of the relationships with those banks as per the Memorandum on Economic and Financial Policies agreed with the EU Commission, the ECB and the IMF. These Frameworks were published on 30 March 2012 and can be found at; . As I have stated previously, the Deputy will appreciate that it is an inevitable, but unfortunate, consequence of the necessary restructuring of the banking system – and return to viability - that branches in certain towns and villages will be closed. I appreciate that the branch closures will have an impact on certain towns and villages, but I do expect that all the banks involved to work with their customers to ensure that they minimise the impact of the closures.

However, specifically in relation to Rush, AIB has informed me that the receiving branch will be the Balbriggan branch. Additionally Rush has a post office which will be offering AIB banking services to customers and AIB will retain 3 branches within less than 10 miles of Rush with the closest branch under 5 miles from Rush.