Union: Post offices should be at heart of bank account plan

Post offices should be placed at the centre of the Government’s plans to provide bank accounts to people who have no access to the banking system, according to the Irish Postmasters’ Union.

The IPU yesterday called on the Government to include the post office system in its plans to make social welfare payments through these proposed bank accounts.

An ESRI report last year highlighted the problem of financial exclusion with estimates that there are more than 300,000 households in Ireland without access to a bank account.