“Withdrawal of Bank of Ireland ATM services must be urgently reconsidered.” Carol Nolan

“They certainly see it as a kind of ‘death by a thousand cuts’ approach to services in rural Ireland and they are very angry about that, as indeed am I.”

Independent TD for Laois-Offaly Carol Nolan has said she has engaged with Bank of Ireland to seek an immediate reconsideration of its decision to withdraw its ATM services at locations such as Banagher. 

Deputy Nolan said that she had been contacted by a number of Banagher constituents who are worried that the removal of the ATM, as part of the Bank of Ireland’s wider commitment to withdraw services from 88 locations throughout the state, will create significant levels of public disruption:

“We know that Bank of Ireland intends to withdraw its staff from a number of branches in Offaly, including Edenderry, Banagher and Clara, while Rathdowney, Mountrath and Durrow are also being hit in Laois.

This has already created additional levels of anxiety and stress for the ordinary people and businesses who live and operate in those areas.

They certainly see it as a kind of ‘death by a thousand cuts’ approach to services in rural Ireland and they are very angry about that, as indeed am I.

It is all very well for Bank of Ireland and indeed the other main pillar banks to talk about the switch to online banking but to not even leave the bare minimum in terms of an accessible ATM just seems like utter contempt for customers who have stuck with the bank for decades.

This is what is infuriating people in Banagher, Edenderry Clara, Rathdowney, Mountrath and Durrow; the sense that their loyalty and their taxes, which helped keep Bank of Ireland afloat, is being thrown back in their faces. 

There is no sense of reciprocity on the part of Bank of Ireland and no meaningful acknowledgement that it has a public duty to provide minimal service provision such as ATM’s.

I will continue to fight, along with my Rural Independent Group colleagues, to ensure that people living in rural towns and villages are no longer treated as second class citizens who are supposed to just shut up and accept that a bottom line approach to public services can and will leave them behind,” concluded Deputy Nolan.