Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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86. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the announcement that 27 office service centres are to be closed by a bank (details supplied); the location of each; the number of staff that work at each branch; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19270/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that, as Minister for Finance, I have no direct function in the day-to-day commercial decisions made by Bank of Ireland. Decisions taken by Bank of Ireland in this regard, and the manner in which it conducts its day-to-day operations, are matters for the board and management of the bank.

Although the State has a minority shareholding in Bank of Ireland, I must ensure that the bank is run on a commercial, cost effective and independent basis to protect its value as an asset of the State. A Relationship Framework has been specified which defines the nature of the relationship between the Minister for Finance and the bank and this Framework can be found at the following link:

The detailed information requested by the Deputy is not held in the Department of Finance. Officials in the Department referred the Deputy’s question to the bank and received the following response:

“Bank of Ireland’s key strategic priorities include transforming the Bank and enhancing customer service. To achieve these priorities we are restructuring our business model, streamlining our organisation, and increasing our focus on customer facing roles.

“As part of this process, we have reviewed our operational support centres. These centres were established to manage temporary projects or to provide back office operational support for the bank. They are generally located in offices above branches. There are 28 operational support centres, distributed nationwide, employing 419 people.

“Arising from this review the Bank has decided to wind these operational support centres down by the end of the year. A number of temporary projects conducted at the centres are due to naturally conclude by the end of 2018, and other activity will be centralised to an alternative location. The migration of this work will be carried out on a phased basis, with all activity concluded by the end of 2018. Alongside this decision, the Bank is increasing the number of personnel in our branches and Contact Centres with over 100 new roles. This will enhance our ability to better serve our customers, which is a core strategy for the development of the Bank.

“Supporting colleagues through change is a key priority. We have communicated with all support role colleagues in relation to these changes, and have set out a range of options at this time, including:

Seeking expressions of interest from our operational support centre colleagues for one of over 100 new branch and Contact Centre roles;

Supporting colleagues who wish to apply for other roles across the Group;

Supporting colleagues who express an interest in Voluntary Parting or Early Retirement.

"The various options and timelines will be discussed again with colleagues in one-to-one meetings with line managers over the coming weeks, and a range of HR supports remain available to colleagues on an ongoing basis. Bank of Ireland has the largest branch network with 250 branches nationwide – our branch network is unaffected by this announcement.”