I note today that the Bank of Ireland may have climbed down on their plans with regard to the use of tellers in branches, and if that is true then that is welcome. However in the ongoing discussions between the Minister for Finance and the Central Bank it is now time to call in the main banks and remind them of their responsibilities to the public and particularly to the elderly and more vulnerable members of our society who may not be able to use computers and machines. The banks need to be reminded that it is the Irish people that they can thank for keeping them open and for the billions of Euro that was handed over by the taxpayers to bail them out because of their arrogance and greed. It would appear that arrogance and greed is never far from the surface when one looks at what the Bank of Ireland were planning here.
The public reacted with justifiable anger and shock at the Bank of Ireland plans and that reaction should be warning to other financial institutions that they should scrap any similar plans that they may have in place. It is well past time that the Minister took a look at the position of credit unions and post offices as an alternative banking force particularly in rural Ireland. I have been calling for this to become a reality since I have been elected and it is something that I will be following up on an ongoing basis in the coming weeks and months.