Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Okay. Do the witnesses believe that 10 km is a reasonable amount? Obviously, a percentage of the population will fall outside of the 10 km. If a person is on the margins of the 10 km criterion, it is a 20 km round trip to get access to cash. That is quite a significant journey and not good for the environment. There is a cost burden as well. It would be helpful to me - I cannot speak for the rest of the committee - if the witnesses were able to provide data around the current penetration, or the penetration as of 2022 which is the reference point in the Bill, in geographical distances such as 5 km, 3 km and so forth. If 99% of the population are within 10 km of an ATM machine at the moment, what percentage are within 5 km or 3 km? This is to figure out if the parameters are being set too far out. While I understand that a point must be picked, it would be good to have other reference points.