Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Department of Finance's retail banking review published in November 2022 concluded that cash still has an important place in our economy and it recommended that the Department of Finance develop access to cash legislation to establish a framework to ensure that the future evolution of cash infrastructure in the State will be managed in a fair, orderly, transparent and equitable manner. It also recommended that the starting point should be the level of cash infrastructure based on the levels prevailing in December 2022.

My predecessor published the general scheme of the finance (provision of access to cash services) Bill 2024 in January of this year. The Bill provides that the Minister for Finance shall prescribe regional criteria to require that a specified percentage of the population must be within a distance of not less than 5 km and not more than 10 km of an ATM. There must be a minimum number of ATMs per 100,000 people and a specified percentage of the population must be within a distance of not less 5 km and not more than 10 km of cash service points. These are locations where cash can be lodged and withdrawn and where there is in-person assistance available. Bank branches with cash services and post offices satisfy this definition.

Provision is also being included to address local deficiencies in the ability to access cash should these occur, even if the more general regional criteria are being complied with. Credit institutions with shares of current accounts and household deposits above levels prescribed by the Minister will be responsible for ensuring compliance with the access to cash criteria. To ensure the obligations imposed by the legislation remain objective and proportionate, the access to cash criteria will be reviewed by the Central Bank following the publication of population data in each new census. Reviews can also occur between each census if cash demand drops by more than 15% in a calendar year compared with the previous calendar year, at the request of the Minister for Finance or at the Central Bank’s own initiative.

The Bill also brings ATM deployers and cash in transit providers within the regulatory perimeter of the Central Bank of Ireland. Drafting of the Bill is nearly completed and I intend to seek Government approval to publish it in the coming weeks.

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