UNITE workers from across the financial sector staged a protest at Dáil Éireann at lunchtime today as anger mounts over the lack of action and apparent interest from government at the plight of Bank of Scotland / Halifax workers who have been told that 750 jobs are to go.This is the first time a retail bank has closed in Ireland and the first time that compulsory redundancy notice has been served on Irish workers in the financial sector.
The protest, which took place from 1pm, will culminate in delivery of a letter to an Taoiseach Brian Cowen, demanding a response to the workers alternative proposal for the government creation of a third banking force. This proposal was sent to Cowen and Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan on February 8th but no response has yet been received.
Ten years ago a Fianna Fáil government sold the ICC Bank to Bank of Scotland with a view to increasing competition in the business banking sector, said Bernard Daly, Secretary of the UNITE Committee at Bank of Scotland (Ireland). Now the same political establishment is sitting on its hands and refusing to even acknowledge that 750 Irish jobs are worth fighting for or that small Irish business needs competition in the business banking sector in order to survive.
The government is willing to talk at length about its own security despite the defection of ministers, said UNITE Regional Secretary, Jimmy Kelly, but when it comes to meeting to talk about the real world of pain that is falling on individuals and families, there is only a stony silence.
The people of Ireland are sick of being taken for fools, he added.
