Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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35. To ask the Minister for Finance the action he will take to offset the negative impact of Ulster Bank branch and sub-office closures on the local banking system here. [4692/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that the issue of branch closures by Ulster Bank was raised in the Dáil on Thursday 22 January. The full text of the debate is available on the Oireachtas website.

As I said then, this is a commercial and operational matter for the Ulster Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland group, and it would not be appropriate for me as Minister for Finance to become directly involved in the number of branches that the bank may decide to close or the selection of which branches are to close.

However I would welcome further exploration by Ulster Bank of ways to offset the impact on the local banking system, including a possible arrangement with An Post to provide alternative services for the people in towns from which it is withdrawing banking services.