Minister for Finance Michael McGrath is to bring legislative proposals to Cabinet next week to ensure there is no further decline in the numbers of ATM's for people to access cash in towns and villages around the country.
The Access to Cash Bill will give the Central Bank powers to compel banks to provide ATMs in areas where people have difficulty withdrawing cash at the moment.
There has been a sharp decline in the amount of cash being withdrawn since the pandemic.
Before the outbreak of Covid, there was around €20 bln withdrawn annually from ATMs, but this fell to €13 billion in 2022.
However, Minister McGrath believes it is important to ensure there is reasonable access to cash across society.
On Tuesday, the Cabinet will see the detail of plans to restore the numbers of ATMs to 2022 levels before Ulster Bank and KBC left the retail banking market here.
That would mean that there will have to be 95 ATMs for every 100,000 people in the border region and 80 per 100,000 people in Dublin.
The Government is also drawing up plans to ensure people can pay with cash for essential services and goods such as groceries and medicines.
"That work is ongoing and will involve important policy decisions, and while we are dealing in this bill with the right to access to cash, the national payment strategy will deal with the right to spend cash in certain defined circumstances and that work is advancing in tandem with the legislation around accessing cash," Minister McGrath said.
Speaking about the proposals this afternoon, the minister said: "The usage of cash has fallen by a third in the last four years, but its important that we ensure there is reasonable access to cash across society, so this legislation will ensure there is access to ATMs around the country and we don’t allow the market over time to gradually reduce the availability of ATMs in towns villages and cities.
"That is fundamentally what this legislation is about - to avoid the risk of financial exclusion."
Reasonable access to cash important - McGrath
Minister McGrath acknowledged there is an increasing amount of digitalisation of payments, but he said many people still want to be able to access cash.
He added: "Without an intervention on a legislative front we would see a further reduction over time in the availability of cash, because ATMs will be withdrawn from more and more towns and villages around the country and I don’t want to see that happen.
"I think its important there is reasonable access to cash around the country and this will lay out the criteria whereby ATMs must be available within certain parameters across society to meet the needs of the people of our country.
"We will be be ensuring that the position that prevailed back in 2022 will at least be maintained into the future and there is no diminution in the availability of cash from that time."
Minister McGrath said the legislation will have a provision where any local shortage in the availability of cash can be addressed by means of regulation by the Central Bank and financial institutions who would be obliged to provide ATM services in towns and villages where a deficiency is demonstrated.
"I believe it’s a very important initiative and intervention in that regard and it makes sure that the trend that we are currently seeing which does expose a considerable number of people to the risk of financial exclusion cannot continue.
"That’s why legislation is necessary and I am bringing that forward to Cabinet next week and I know my colleagues are very supportive of this Government initiative," he said.
Additional reporting Cathy Halloran
