Councillor calls on AIB to reinstate cash services in Ballymun branch

Following AIB’s announcement that it was reversing it’s decision to remove cash services from 70 branches around the country, north side councillor Noeleen Reilly is calling on the bank to re-implement cash services in the Ballymun branch.

The branch in Ballymun was made cashless last December amid criticism from the local community.

Reilly said in a statement that “it is great to see the public pressure put on AIB this week to reverse its decision to make 70 branches around the country cashless, but this is not the first time that it has done this and got away with it.

“Last December they announced they would be making the Ballymun branch cashless despite it only being open in its new premises two years.

“I raised this last December at the Northwest Area Committee, and we wrote to AIB to which they did not respond.

“They have a very short memory as it was not that long ago that the Public bailed out AIB and communities like Ballymun suffered most from the austerity cuts as a result of that bailout.

“There is a lot of elderly living in Ballymun who need access to a fully operating bank.

“It is simply not good enough to say to them they need to travel to a nearby location which are already over capacity.”

Reilly says that AIB has shown that it has the capacity to reverse such decisions and is urging the bank to do so.

“People pay large fees to AIB and are entitled to a service on foot of those fees.

“Given they seen sense this week on the closures of branches I would ask them to reopen the Ballymun Cash Desk immediately and give people what they pay for and need,” she says.