Callan bank closure - Minister told town feels 'abandoned'

Where are the institutions that should be supporting the people of Callan, one local demanded at a meeting to highlight the loss of banking services in the town.

“It looks like the government has abandoned small towns,” another said.

Minister for State Neale Richmond met with a group of local people last Friday, and was told in stark terms that the closure of one bank and serious scaling back of services at another, in the town, was giving the impression there is a growing urban-rural divide in banking.

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The meeting was hosted by local Fine Gael councillor Joe Lyons, and was also attended by Deputy John Paul Phelan.

Cllr Lyons said that the town has benefitted from Town and Village Renewal, the Town Centre First scheme and people are being urged to use Active Travel. “Taking this  into consideration, and the environmental awareness at this time, we are being asked to drive to Kilkenny and Clonmel to avail of full banking facilities.”

Describing the situation as “very frustrating,” Deputy Phelan said the government has invested hugely in Callan but nothing improves a town more than businesses.

Minister Richmond said the number of ATMs in Ireland ‘peaked 10 years ago’ and people are not using cash to the same extent. Banks want to move business online, he said, but it is his opinion that they are trying to force that prematurely.

“Telling everyone everything can be done online doesn’t work,” he told the meeting.

Cllr Lyons pointed out that many groups still use coin and they are sent into Kilkenny City. He also said that bank charges have not reduced, while services in the town have.

“We’re not getting the same service,” Mary Foley told the Minister. “We’re paying the same fees as people who have facilities.” She said it was a ‘rural- urban divide.’

However, Minister Richmond, who is from Dublin, said all branches in his own constituency have been closed. He said it’s not an urban-rural divide but a generational one.

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Ms Foley also raised the concerns of people who now use the post office in Callan for financial transactions. “People can be watched by anybody,” she said of the lack of privacy at the counter which is located inside the local SuperValu supermarket.

She said there is a perception that the government is a major shareholder in the banks and should be able to prevent rural branch closures. “You can’t disadvantage people who want to deal with cash.

“How can we expect towns like ours to progress when facilities are being taken away?”

Minister Richmond said the government can’t direct the banks, who are fully independent. What will drive change in policy in the banks is not instructions from government but pressure from the people, he said. He advised the meeting that if communities drive traffic into banks it will show there is a need for branches to stay open.

The minister of state said he and John Paul Phelan ‘can shout until we are blue in the face to the Minister for Finance, who can shout until he is blue in the face to the banks’ but it will be getting the CEO and boards of banks to hear communities saying ‘if you put in a useful service we will use it.’

“What sickens me is this is the bank we bailed out,” Sr Kate Morris said. She said the bank had to get over the idea of branches being worth their while keeping open. “We have been betrayed by the very people we bailed out at enormous expense and embarrassment.

“It’s a joke what’s happening,” she said.

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Sr Kate said she supports the government but is asking herself: “Who am I supporting? A bunch of mopes?”

She said they could talk politely forever, to no end. “You say we should fight, but we shouldn’t have to fight. People are bursting themselves trying to make this town work, under very difficult circumstances.” 

She asked ‘where are the institutions who should be supporting this town?’

Teckie Brett said there is a big push for a cashless society, but, she asked, who is pushing for it?

She said she has to drive from Mullinahone to Kilkenny City if she wants to get change for a business.

She said banking is moving too fast towards being cashless and the government has a role to play in slowing this.

“How can a small business in the likes of Callan survive if we can’t get cash? It looks like the government has abandoned small towns.”

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Other speakers at the meeting informed the minister that members of the L’Arche Community in Callan now have to be brought into Kilkenny City to facilitate them getting cash from the bank.

A local school principal also pointed out that a lot of coin cash still comes into the school and it’s a ‘nightmare’ for the school secretary to lodge that to a bank.

It was pointed out to the Minister that grandparents like to give children ‘a few bob’ and on any Saturday children can ve seen spending cash at toy shops, not tapping cards.

Jane Lowth, who runs a café in the town, said a majority of her customers do ‘tap’ to pay but, she said, while banks choose to go with the majority they still need to serve the minority as well.

Minister Richmond agreed, pointing out there are lots of financial tasks and services you can’t do ‘on your phone,’ including mortgages. He gave a commitment to the Callan meeting that he will take every point, made in good faith, back to the government.

Callan, a parish of nearly 5,000 people, has a hinterland including the communities of Kells, Kilmanagh, Ballingarry, Mullinahone, Windgap and Cuffesgrange.

Branches of both Bank of Ireland and AIB were located in the town until the closure of the Bank of Ireland in October 2021. The AIB branch is now ‘cashless.’ There is no facility in the town to lodge or withdraw coin and no foreign currency.