Growing concern as Carn Bank closes
Today's closure of a leading Carndonagh bank has been described as sending out 'a very bad message' about the town's economic future.
And Fine Gael's Bernard McGuiness said the fear now is that other banks will follow suit.
Local Fianna Fail's councillor Charlie McConalogue was equally concerned, telling the Journal yesterday: "It certainly is a hard blow to take. It is disheartening to see an iconic business in the town leaving."
The two representatives were referring to the closure of the local branch of National Irish Bank which has served the community in north Inishowen for the last 143 years.
Describing it as "a prominent feature of town's life and business," Colr. McConalogue said: "Everyone is downheartened at the closure. We now have to do everything to ensure this building doesn't sit empty."
Councillor McGuinness said he was concerned about the image of the area.
"Every job lost in the area sends a very bad message about the town.The fear now is that other banks will follow suit.
"What this closure means is less activity in the town but unfortunately, despite meeting with bank representatives, it seemed there was just nothing we could do. Any closure of a Carn business is regrettable."
The bank is restructuring and those staff who did not avail of voluntary redundancy are to merge with the Letterkenny branch.
The restructuring was announced in December of last year. 25 of the banks 58 branches are affected. In total the bank sought 150 voluntary redunancies. Six of the seven branches in Donegal are set to close and functions will be centralised in Letterkenny.
'We are all on life support'
A spokeperson for National Irish said: "This was a voluntary redundancy scheme so all staff and customers have been given the best possible care.
"The Bank was one of the first to recognise the true scale of losses facing banks operating in Ireland and this latest proactive decision signals its resolve to continue fulfilling the banking needs of its extensive Irish customer base," he said.
"The banking sector in Ireland is on life support. Banks have to react by reducing costs and amending their business models. We are taking these actions to ensure we have a long-term future, a healthy future."
He refused to reveal how many staff are affected "for security reasons". The spokeperson did say customers have been contacted during the entire process.
"The vast majority of customers avail of our on-line banking system plus they can also use An Post offices to lodge and withdraw money."
However some customers expressed their anger that this service isn't actually available until October.
The bank have had a presence in the town's Diamond area since 1867, the bank itself being rebuilt in 1970. As yet they haven't revealed their plans for the vacated Carndonagh premises.
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Weather for Derry
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 14 C to 24 C
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