THE SINN FÉIN public expenditure spokesperson has called for the Oireachtas Finance Committee to meet “without delay” in light of a report about the Department of Finance’s knowledge of AIB cashless branch plans.

The bank announced yesterday that it would not go ahead with its decision to remove cash and cheque services at 70 branches following “customer and public unease”.

Finance Committee member TD Maireád Farrell said the committee “must meet urgently” to establish “who knew what and when”. 

The Irish Independent reported this morning that the government was told weeks ago that AIB was working on a plan to remove cash facilities from branches.

The department was informed of the specifics of this plan four days before it was announced this week, the newspaper said after reporting yesterday that the government was left in the dark over the plan. 

Farrell said: “The government are majority shareholders in AIB and need to assert their role in ensuring banks serve communities.

“Our communities deserve to access services locally and to be treated fairly by these banks and by government. I have again written to the Finance Committee asking that we meet without delay.”

Role of banks

There was widespread concern about AIB’s decision across the political spectrum and Taoiseach Micheál Martin had called on the bank to reconsider earlier this week. 

The decision to not proceed was welcomed by Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, who said that banks have a key role “in maintaining the flow of cash through the economy and ensuring appropriate access to retail banking services for all in society, including the vulnerable”.

AIB had agreed to appear before the Finance Committee early next month to discuss the decision. 

In a statement after the reversal, Fine Gael Senator Sean Kyne said that AIB must still come before the committee to explain how the decision came about, “causing such shock and worry to businesspeople and vulnerable customers all around the country”.

Mairéad Farrell said yesterday that the government was “caught on the hop” and needed to explain why this was the case.

“Customers need to know exactly how this debacle came about and need reassurance that it will not happen again. This means that the Finance Committee meeting on this matter must still go ahead, so that customers can get these vital answers and assurances from the Finance Minister and senior AIB figures,” she said. 

AIB said yesterday that there has been a dramatic increase in the use of digital banking services and a decline in branch visits and cash usage in recent years.

“In AIB’s case, there are 2.9 million daily digital interactions compared with 35,000 customer branch visits. There has been a 36% decline in cash withdrawals from ATMs and a 50% fall in cheque usage over the past five years,” an AIB statement said.