Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is a very high penetration if we take 10 km to be a reasonable distance. Some people will argue it is not. The deficiency in this Bill is that we are not guaranteeing that level of access into the future. There is a difference between access to cash between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. and access to cash in the evening. We have been there and done that. People are out and about in towns. It is important for the local economy and it should be considered as one of the criteria used. That is just one of the points I wanted to make about the shops and where they are.

I am sure the Central Bank will do its best, but many Oireachtas Members will be familiar with what happens when An Post announces it will close a local rural post office. It announces the criteria and tells everyone the decision can be appealed. It is about access. There are great criteria. The community will meet and so forth, but very few win, so it all depends on how a community having a fine service will be interpreted. It should be about preserving what we have. That is the stated intention of this legislation, with the ability of the Minister to amend the percentage in the future. There is a massive difference for a community between the ATM in the wall and the one in a shop. It is night and day. The one in a shop cannot be accessed all the time. The shop might not open until 1 p.m. on a Sunday, never mind closing at 6 p.m. It might not be open on bank holidays and so forth. There is a clear distinction and it should be captured in the legislation. I have said enough about that.

Will the Department comment on the process of consultation in which the Central Bank will inform the ministerial regulations and trigger the updating of those regulations?