Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 14 February 2024
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Engagement with the Central Bank of Ireland
Mr. Vasileios Madouros:
It is important. The point about cost is important in the context of this discussion, because the provision of the cash infrastructure entails some costs. What we do not want to happen is that the provision of that infrastructure changes faster than society's preferences. That would not serve society well. However, when we think about not where we are now, but where we might be going into the future, it is important that we think about the balance of these costs and benefits from a societal perspective. To make that a bit more explicit, the legislation has this draft provision of changing the access to cash criteria in the future. That is important because if society's demands for cash were to continue falling, with people just not using it, then, if that infrastructure remained the same, there would not be benefits for people because they would not be using it, but there would be costs. Those costs ultimately would be borne by society as well. This question of the balance and the proportionality, not in terms of where we are now, but thinking about it in the future, is important. That is why it is really important that the draft heads of Bill have this provision to review them under certain conditions.
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