Ms Ann Martyn:

Absolutely. When I brought a cheque for €120 to the bank yesterday, it came up on the screen as €7,000. I thought it was great because I could go on my holidays. It was up to me to regulate that. The move to contactless payments, which Mr. Jennings has mentioned, means we are not generating cash. Cash is still needed for ATMs, however. It is a constant juggle. The bank is of no use to us. When the girl who usually does our lodgments was on holidays, I went to the bank to do it for the first time in approximately six months. My business is not big, but relatively speaking it is one of the bigger businesses in our small town. I do not know who the bank manager is. If I need to get a loan or something like that, they will send me to Tullamore. There is no sense that the bank is there to support us in our day-to-day banking or in the bigger things we need to do. It is faceless. Consumers sometimes ask us to take coins they have saved - their kids have emptied their money boxes, or whatever - because the banks will not let them in. They will not take coins from people. I choose not to go to the bank when I need coins because it costs a fortune-----