An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-09
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Gareth Scahill (FG), Nominated by the Taoiseach

I call for a debate on the wider trend of small towns losing essential financial services facilities. In the recent budget, additional funding was provided for An Post, which was very much appreciated. We have all received correspondence following that. We had a recent debate in this House on the provision of access to cash to try to ensure that those in predominantly rural areas will be served by and have access to these facilities. Despite that, I read last week that the credit union in Elphin in north-west Roscommon is being closed and that there are no plans to reopen it. There was talk that there were some structural works that had to be done in the vicinity, but in any other urban area, such works would have happened while the service was still being delivered or the operators of the service would have found temporary accommodation.
I was contacted recently by representatives of Bannon's service station in Bellanamullia, which is agency for An Post. Due to what they have been told is communication disruption, their cash machine has been taken out. This means that they can no longer provide that service. We need a debate in this House on the provision of rural financial services to ensure that the most marginalised and isolated in our society have access to financial services and the cash that they need.
I compliment all the rural traders in Roscommon predominantly, though I am sure the effort has been replicated across the country, who have been out in recent weeks hanging Christmas lights. Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the lighting ceremonies in Castlerea and Boyle in Roscommon. I also attended the Christmas market experience in Roscommon town. There was a similar event in Monksland. I compliment all those voluntary committees and encourage people to support those small rural businesses that put so much work into our rural communities.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-12-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:26+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-09