ULSTER BANK BRANCH CLOSURES ARE A BLOW FOR ‘BLAYNEY AND CLONES

By Patsy McArdle and Cianna McNally

The decision announced by Ulster Bank last Friday to close down twenty-four branches of the bank in the Republic and the North, including the branches in Castleblayney and Clones, next year, has sparked concern from trade leaders and civic representatives .

The announcement was in line with a previous declaration that forty Ulster Bank branches would be closed by the end of 2016.

Next year, twelve branches are to be shut in the Republic and ten in the North.

According to the bank, services at Castleblayney and Clones are to be transferred to the bank’s branch in Monaghan town.

The impact from the pending shut down for both Co. Monaghan towns led this week to expressions of concern from Ballybay Clones Municipal Authority Fine Gael councilor Hugh McElvaney, and also from his Carrickmacross/Castleblayney Fine Gael party colleague, Aidan Campbell .

While the Ulster Bank stated that some job losses are anticipated, as a consequence of the shut-down, it was pointed out the job cuts would be made in the form of voluntary redundancies.

BLAYNEY CONCERN

Carrickmacross/Castleblayney Municipal area Fine Gael councilor Aidan Campbell, who raised the public concerns over the issue at last Monday’s meeting of the body in Carrickmacross, said the closure decision is regrettable for the Blayney area in particular, where the branch has enjoyed an excellent volume of business and is providing a good local service.

He said it was really a major business blow for the Mid-Monaghan region.

Cllr. Campbell said yesterday : “This is going to create great inconvenience to the local businesses and indeed the local customers of Ulster Bank in Castleblayney who are now being asked to travel to Monaghan to do their banking”.

“Ulster Bank in Castleblayney is only one of two banks in the town which offers the ATM facilities which is a great asset.”

“ One has only to see the amount of people who use this facility over any given weekend when the bank is closed–This is a facility which is used more and more these days for people to manage their cash etc.

“ There will be the loss of the jobs in the bank to the town and the knock on of that will have an impact on the town.”

Meanwhile, at Monday’s Municipal Castleblayney/ Carrickmacross meeting, Cllr Campbell requested the Authority to write to Ulster Bank to seek a meeting with the powers that be, to ascertain if the announcement made last weekend regarding the closure of the Castleblayney Branch could still be averted.

Seconding Cllr Campbell’s proposal Sinn Féin’s Jackie Crowe said that a number of people had contacted him about the issue and he fully agreed with Cllr Campbell’s request for a meeting.

Also supporting the comments made by previous speakers Fianna Fáil councillor Pádraig McNally described the news of the closure as “a very dangerous development.” He expressed hope that the ATM could at least be left in place.

“This is a very serious development and is very worrying. We need to voice our absolute disgust at the decision,” said Cllr Mc Nally.

CLONES CHAMBER TO ACT

Clones Chamber of Commerce issued a statement to the Northern Standard in relation to the closure of the Ulster Bank branch in the town.

‘The businesses and people of Clones are shocked and extremely disappointed about the imminent closure of the Ulster Bank in the …