Social Democrats candidate Leonard Kelly Pic: Jim Campbell
SOCIAL DEMOCRATS general election candidate Leonard Kelly has called for community banking to become the ‘default option’ for most simple banking transactions in Wexford.
The call comes after the closure of many rural post offices around the county.
Mr. Kelly, from Clonard, said he felt it would be a “far more appropriate legacy to the banking crisis if we saw a change in banking culture so that the majority of small and medium financial transactions could be handled within communities rather than falling back into a situation where the big banks keep their power and their hegemony over the economy.”
Mr. Kelly is a first-time general election candidate, with a first-time election party, the Social Democrats. The party recently launched its election manifesto in which the concept of community banking is explained.
The plan would see Credit Union deposits being able to be used to finance local Wexford businesses with any profits re-invested into the community as well as Credit Unions and Post Offices being allowed to offer current accounts with debit cards as well as online banking. The Party even proposes that locals could be given the option of going through their local credit union for mortgages rather than the only option being the big banks.
Endorsing the plans, Mr. Kelly remarked: “It seems crazy to me that the same banks who did so much to destroy our trust, seem to still enjoy the trust of the government to be the only show in town for so many basic financial services when we could boost our communities by putting trust in post offices and credit unions to do much more.”
He acknowledged the work of his fellow candidate Caroline Fox and other Post Office staff around the country saying that he fully supported their campaign to keep small rural post offices open.
“You only have to see the effect of post office closures on villages like Murrintown, which is now left without so much as a local shop, to see that this is something we all need to get behind.”
