Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is a logic to what the Minister is doing. I agree that people have some flexibility and an opportunity to reduce the level of stamp duty they are paying but this has to be viewed alongside the actual bank charges because these are Government charges. Bank charges are a different animal. The present bank charges can be very significant. I have checked AIB as a case in point - it charges 35 cent for an ATM withdrawal, 20 cent for each debit card purchase, something the Minister is encouraging in the drive for an cashless society, combined debit card purchase with cash back, 20 cent and any staff assisted transaction, 39 cent. These are the sample charges of one individual bank. The Minister's policy is fine but it needs to be consistent with what the banks are doing in practice because the amount the customer is paying is the Government stamp duty plus the actual bank charges.

I submit the bank charges are not going in the same direction as the initiatives the Minister is proposing. Has the Central Bank examined this issue? Is it talking to the individual banks? It is true that the staff-assisted transactions incur higher charges than automated transactions but if they did not impose such high charges for each withdrawal or debit card purchase, for example, people might be prepared to hold less cash.