The Minister of State for Labour, Mr Frank Fahey, believes the Bank of Ireland may be forced to compromise on its decision to stand down its travelling banks.
Mr Fahey said he was "hopeful" of a solution to the row, after meeting Bank of Ireland officials in Galway late last week.
"From the Bank of Ireland's point of view, it is simply unsustainable if they now have no physical presence between Galway city and Clifden, throughout Connemara," Mr Fahey said.
The Bank of Ireland was playing down suggestions of any compromise yesterday, but confirmed it had been asked to consider several proposals by Mr Fahey and other representatives. It had agreed to have a further discussion on these issues in a fortnight's time.
The compromise would not involve extending the life of the mobile units, which made their last runs through north Mayo and Connemara on Thursday and Friday respectively.
Allied Irish Banks still maintains a mobile service in parts of Mayo as far as Leenane on the Galway-Mayo border, and has been asked to extend this south in the light of the Bank of Ireland move.
Bank of Ireland cites security, health and safety, falling customer numbers due to alternative methods of banking and the cost of replacing the vans as the main reasons for the decision to cut the service after a quarter of a century.
However, Mr Fahey said that a bank customer living in Connemara and seeking to have a discussion with a bank manager about a mortgage would now have to travel 40 miles or more into the nearest branch in Salthill. Several speakers at Friday's meeting suggested providing a service in community locations, such as the "one stop shop" used by Galway County Council in Carraroe for payment of motor tax. The bank provides a periodic physical service on the Aran Islands, while having also installed an automatic telling machine (ATM) on Inis Mór as part of its new ATM expansion in retail shops.
PD local election candidate Mr Jim Larkin said the lack of any physical presence by the Bank of Ireland in the State's largest Gaeltacht area could also have implications for any business it transacts with State organisations like Údarás na Gaeltachta.
A spokesman for the Údarás said the issue was discussed at its last board meeting and it was agreed to support the lobby opposing the withdrawal, but there was no question of the board altering its arrangements with the bank.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Ó Cuív, is still awaiting proposals from the Irish League of Credit Unions on providing an alternative service in isolated areas.
