Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In Mr. Byrne's estimation there are 40,000 or 50,000 of these debit points. Up to recently, these were rented on a monthly or weekly basis. Therefore, if a business decided not to use them any more, they walked away from them. However, from what I understand, AIB market banking has now engaged with a German company, First Data Global Leasing, and all of these machines are now on a two to three year lease to AIB customers. Is that correct? The accusation in the retail sector is that a scam is being played on them and that is the issue I would like to deal with this afternoon. There is a strong accusation being made that by sleight of hand many retailers who had machines last week and who signed the paper for them, thinking they were just conducting the normal transaction, found they were no longer in a rental agreement that could be cancelled easily but had moved into a two or three year lease agreement. In the event of their business closing, they find they are locked into a three year lease agreement on the machine. The business could go to the wall, but the company owner would still have to pay for the use of the machine. Can we have some more information on that?