In my opinion, there’s no such thing as a good bank. But Permanent TSB are the least bad bank I could find. I chose them by default when I first moved to Ireland — they were the only bank that would open an account and give me a Laser card without a long wait. The staff at the Baggot Street branch are friendly enough. Their online banking is good and they seem paranoid about security, which suits me fine too. Best of all, they seem to have come out of the financial crisis relatively unscathed and without needing a government bailout. This, more than anything, appeals to me on both practical and philosophical grounds.