Mr. Gavin Kelly:

We mentioned earlier there will be four locations where we will keep an ATM in the branch because there is no alternative branch in the town and Kilkee is one of these locations. We are committing to maintaining the ATM in Kilkee for this reason. With respect to Miltown Malbay, I am aware we will be closing the ATM in the branch. To pick up the Deputy's point, there are alternative ATMs in Miltown Malbay in supermarkets. To give a bit of perspective on what we are seeing happen with cash, so we believe it will be comfortable, customers will have access to an ATM during supermarket hours and they will also have access through post office opening hours. They can also use their card's cashback facility. As we know, the cashback facility has become incredibly popular but to take one step back from this, we have seen a 33% drop in cash over the past year. We could say this is because of Covid but to go back to what Ms McDonagh said earlier, I believe it is a service in which we will see a permanent shift. Keeping a bit of perspective on this, we have all become familiar with contactless transactions. In 2017, Bank of Ireland cardholders used contactless cards 70 million times. In 2020, this number was 170 million. There were 100 million more card transactions using contactless payments in 2020. We believe this is a permanent shift. It is something that will stick. Between contactless payments, the use of cashback on debit cards, the ATM facility in the local supermarket and the post office service, the people of Miltown Malbay will be catered for, although I accept we will not have an external ATM in Miltown Malbay.