Bank branch closures 'two fingers to vulnerable'

The planned closure of Bank of Ireland branches in Kilcullen and Monasterevin is short-sighted and will hit the most vulnerable in society, writes Brian Byrne.

That was the view strongly expressed last night in an online discussion by the Kildare South Labour Party, which included party spokesman on Finance Ged Nash TD, Senator Mark Wall, and Cllrs Aoife Breslin and Mark Leigh.

"Will we be going back to the days when older people keep their money at home, leaving themselves open to scams?" Cllr Breslin asked. "This move tells a lot about the morals of the banking sector. We hear a lot about building communities, but this is actually sticking two fingers up to the most vulnerable, and telling them they're on their own."

The discussion also criticised the Government for failing to take action to demand at the very least a pause in the plan, especially as it was revealed during a pandemic. "They said it was because of reduced footfall," Deputy Nash said. "Well, of course there was reduced footfall ... banks have been closed or partially closed during the past year and people were obeying public health guidelines and the law."

He said he has 'repeatedly' asked that the Minister for Finance use his shareholder power to pause the closures until 'things settle down post-pandemic'. "Then by all means make an assessment. I think that is very reasonable for the Irish people to expect from the organisations they bailed out."

Cllr Mark Leigh said 'the vulnerability of older people has to be brought to the fore' in the matter, and also the fact that taking a bank out of a small town or village means other businesses leave too and it becomes merely a place where residents sleep. He highlighted how the populations in both of the affected south Kildare towns have increased substantially, in Kilcullen's case by 131pc between 1996 and 2016. "When the branch in Kilcullen closes, customers who want to conduct their business will have to make a round trip of up to 20 kilometres, to Newbridge or Naas."

Senator Wall noted that clubs and schools in both towns are seeking extra land and premises, and the towns are 'growing exponentially', but the bank isn't recognising this in their decisions. "They have been working on this for a number of years. If you want people to turn away from branches, you just show them to a machine in the corner and then they won't come back. Sometimes I have felt that the excellent staff are embarrassed when I go in, because instead of helping you as they traditionally did, they point you to a machine."

Deputy Nash said banks have already 'missed opportunities' to invest in good local Irish enterprises, because they have abandoned local relationship management. "Local branch staff know their local families and businesses best. If we lose those local branches, local economic development, businesses and jobs will suffer."

He added that CSO statistics show that individuals, businesses, and farmers will make decisions on where they will go for facilities on the basis of whether there's a local branch of a bank. "If the branch has closed, they'll go somewhere else rather than the bank that has abandoned their community. So the bank is losing business."

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