The Access to Cash Bill proposes that big banks be obliged to maintain a certain number of ATMs based on population size, ensuring access to cash for those without bank accounts or uncomfortable with digital payments. The move towards online shopping and digital payments has been steady, but cash remains widely used and likely to maintain a role in Irish life.
As well as ensuring those without bank accounts – or who might be uncomfortable with digital payments – have access to an ATM, Minister for Finance said it was essential as a fallback in case digital systems had an outage, or were hit by a cyberattack. As the saying goes, “cash does not crash”.
And so the Access to Cash Bill proposes that the big banks be obliged to maintain a certain number of ATMs based on population size, with scope for theThis could be seen as just a step towards managing the gradual phasing-out of cash in an increasingly digital economy. But not so fast. Cash may no longer be king, but it remains widely used and likely to maintain a role in Irish life.The move to online shopping and digital payments has been steady, particularly since the middle of the last decade and accelerating during Covid-19, while ATM withdrawals have fallen. Figures from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) show a 60 per cent rise in online and mobile banking payments since 2018, with more than 6.6 million credit and debit card payments processed dail
Access To Cash Bill Atms Digital Payments Online Shopping Cash Irish Life