The number of workers signing on in Mayo is set to increase yet again with the decision by ACC Bank to close 16 of its branches nationwide including its branches in Castlebar and Ballina. The 24 expected job losses will soon be adding to the unemployment figures in the county.
The news will come as a severe blow to those who worked in branches and those who have accounts with the bank. Independent Castlebar town councillor and trade union official for SIPTU — which has members in the two branches — Michael Kilcoyne hit out at the news. “From what I understand there will be up to 50 jobs lost between the two branches closing in Castlebar and Ballina,” he said. “There will be discussions between the unions and the bank as to the terms of the closure and the rights of those who are working there.”
Cllr Kilcoyne also hit out at the bank’s decision to close the offices and the way it will affect those people who bank with them. “This was the farmers’ bank once upon a time before it was bought out. I’m extremely concerned not only for those who are losing their jobs, but for those who are account holders with them. They will have no local access point anymore to their accounts. It just goes to show that all the banks care about is money and not the people who work for them or bank with them.”
Ballina Mayor Michelle Mulherin also expressed her disappointment with the decision to close the branches in Mayo. “The people here are stunned,” she said. “There are 12 jobs being lost in each branch in the county. This is the third financial institution we have seen close in Ballina in the past while with FBD, First Active, and now the ACC closing. This is a difficult time for all the people who are going to lose their job and I only hope that ACC’s parent company Rabobank will treat the people fairly and equitably when it comes to redundancy, because after all they are the ones who built up the business.”
ACC bank announced during the week that it will close 16 branches nationwide between October 2009 and April 2010, including the two Mayo branches. Once the closures come into place the nearest branches Mayo based customers will have access to will be in either Galway or Sligo. Negotiations began between the bank and the trade unions SIPTU and Unite in the past number of weeks and are expected to continue for another number of weeks, as both sides try to thrash out a severance package for the 200 employees who will lose their jobs nationally.
ACC was set up by the State in 1927, originally as the Agricultural Credit Corporation. The Government sold the entire bank to Dutch financial group Rabobank in 2002. When the ACC was set up originally by the State it concentrated on agricultural banking, but since the 1980s it has also focused on the small and medium enterprise sectors.
