PEOPLE living in Border areas of Fermanagh are “increasingly vulnerable” due to the closure of banking institutions, Viscount Brookeborough has told the House of Lords.
Raising the issue of vulnerability the Fermanagh peer spoke of isolation facing many in the area.
Last year the Bank of Ireland closed its branch in Belleek sparking much controversy on both sides of the Border.
“The banks have literally all come back from the Border. Societies in those villages are increasingly vulnerable. They are beginning to be scared,” said Viscount Brookeborough.
“They have to drive 20 miles, so they had better have something good to talk to the bank about. They had better know exactly what they are doing before they go.
“We must treat vulnerability not only as those who may be medically vulnerable but as vulnerable members of our society,” he said.
Banks will always worry about their business, he said, but they “should not necessarily be closing branches and we have to encourage them to be novel.”
“The sooner the banks catch on to what is going on and come up with novel ideas, the sooner the vulnerable will not be as vulnerable as they appear at the moment,” said Viscount Brookeborough.
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