Fine Gael's Justice Spokesman Alan Shatter has strongly criticised the suggestion by Justice Minister Dermot Ahern to start charging bank customers for ATM withdrawals.
Mr Ahern's suggestion followed yesterday's robbery at an AIB branch in Dublin and the abduction of a bank official's wife.
He said the charge would discourage people from using cash and reduce pressure on banks to hold large amounts of it.
Describing this as a 'kidnapper's tax', Mr Shatter said Mr Ahern had decided to hand the State over to the crime bosses.
Mr Shatter described the minister's suggestion as a bizarre, startling and grossly insensitive response to yesterday's events.
Labour's Justice Spokesman Pat Rabbitte was also critical of the idea. He said the Government had already succeeded in reducing the cash in the banks.
Earlier, Irish Bank Officials' Association General Secretary Larry Broderick said he does not agree with the charge.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Broderick said penalising customers was not the answer to the problems of bank robberies and abductions of staff members' relatives.
