The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Ó Cuív, has asked the credit union movement to introduce a replacement for "travelling banks" in the west of Ireland following the Bank of Ireland's decision to withdraw its mobile units.
The Minister has been in contact with the Irish League of Credit Unions with a view to providing a replacement service in Galway and Mayo.
The Bank of Ireland has confirmed that its four mobile units in Galway and Mayo will quit the road on April 16th.
Allied Irish Banks has one mobile unit working from its Westport, Co Mayo, branch, which serves Achill twice a week and Louisburgh and Leenane once a week. It has no plans to discontinue it.
The Bank of Ireland's decision has been condemned as "retrograde" by the chairman of the Consumers' Association of Ireland, Mr Michael Kilcoyne, and by a Fine Gael councillor for Achill island, Mr Pat Kilbane.
However, a spokeswoman for the Bank of Ireland said the number of customers using the mobile units had fallen steadily over the past decade, and it was no longer viable.
It is understood that health and safety issues and security may have influenced the bank's decision at a time when it is undertaking a major investment in retailer automatic telling machines (ATMs).
The bank has 32 branches in the west, 56 full service ATMs, and an additional 45 ATMs have been installed in shops over the past 15 months - including one on Inishmore, the largest of the Aran islands.
Mobile banks were introduced in the 1970s, but were withdrawn from many areas seven years ago.
The Bank of Ireland said it did not believe it would lose significant custom in Galway and Mayo after April 16th, and was in discussions with individual account holders with a view to accommodating them.
