A protest against the closure of the Ulster Bank branch in Croom will move to Limerick tomor-row Friday morning outside the bank’s branch in Dooradoyle at 11am.
More than 200 protestors turned up for a protest last Friday morning against the impending closure, due to take place on 13th March.
It is the second bank to close in the town in two years following the closure of the A.I.B. branch in 2013.
Locals were joined by public representatives and customers from a wide area. This week came confirmation that after the bank closes in March, they will no longer provide an ATM service in Croom.
“The bank has up to 5,000 customers, and an ATM machine dispensing up to €150,000 per week which equates to about €7 million per annum,” explained local businessman and family butcher Pat Barry.
A petition containing in excess of 4,000 signatures together with letters of support from elected public representatives has been submitted to bank manage-ment.
“They informed us on Monday that the bank and the ATM are closing on 13th March and there is no going back,” Mr Barry said, “so we are looking for a big turnout on Friday morning to highlight to Ulster Bank head office that they are putting Croom at a huge financial disadvantage when compared to other towns. Take €150,000 out of any local economy and what have you, loss of business, revenue and foot-fall. There are a lot of people who use the bank and ATM that are not from Croom at all but they spend money here. We are going to lose all that, when footfall is lost, it can lead to job losses. The people of Croom have stood by Ulster Bank for the last 40 years and yet they are prepared to just walk away.”