Of all the sectors within Irish financial services, retail banking has been most negatively affected when it comes to redundancies. With scant new opportunities available to them, those on the receiving end of job cuts are switching to new industries.

This year alone Bank of Scotland (Ireland) has retreated from retail banking at the cost of 750 jobs, National Irish Bank has closed 25 branches and cut 150 roles, while Anglo Irish is considering the next wave of redundancies after the 230 announced late last year.

Add in the fact that AIB has hinted at more job cuts, and the potential winding down of Irish Nationwide and it’s a very bleak scenario indeed.

Brian Murphy, CEO of Premier Group Ireland, says: “Those in customer-facing roles at a branch level, or with transferable sales skills, who were unfortunate enough to lose their jobs are moving out of the financial sector entirely.”

In the current climate, this is understandable – more redundancies are expected, with international banks pulling back from Ireland and domestic institutions ostensibly ruling out any sort of recruitment.

Long-term, however, the implications could be damaging for Ireland.

The smart thinking is that post-restructuring both Bank of Ireland and AIB (both, sadly, consider the healthiest Irish banks) will emerge as much leaner institutions. Sooner or later, though, growth will start again and experienced workers will be thin on the ground.

Premier Group’s monthly employment monitor for March shows that the number of new professional jobs in Ireland is slightly down (13%) on previous last month, and the number of available candidates has also shrunk by 22%.

The number of people willing to look for new work is similar to this time last year, but Murphy believes their scenario is decidedly more optimistic.

“This time last year people were looking for new positions because of either job losses or impending redundancies,” he says “Now, however, they are seeking new opportunities voluntarily.”