Ulster Bank’s job cuts is bad news for staff and bad news for Ireland Inc

THE 950 job cuts announced by Ulster Bank will have a major negative effect and, from Ireland Inc perspective, generate reputational damage.

Ireland’s banking and financial services sector is now in the grip of forces that threatened to undermine the skill base built up over several generations. They also threatened the choice and competitiveness of the services available to retail customers as well as businesses. Job losses on the scale of the Ulster Bank’s cutbacks — and the knock-on effects — will further reinforce contractionary impact in the labour force and in the wider economy.

These job losses come on top of earlier redundancies, including cuts announced by Aviva insurance last year as well as an ongoing contraction in banks.