Results 2,821-2,840 of 36,036 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: A quarter.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: Does the Department have the data for how many people live 10 km from an unrestricted ATM?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: 96%.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: 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...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: In reality, how could they not? The trajectory of this is to allow the Minister to vary the numbers so that the number of ATMs would be limited because the overall population is using or withdrawing less cash. People are still using cash in big numbers and it is likely that the people who do so are those who are financially excluded, who do not have a bank account and need to make sure they...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: Mr. Palmer's point is valid. It is a good example of what could happen in the future, but the legislation we are dealing with allows the Minister to vary the percentage, which, let us be realistic, will not be increased, of ATMs within 10 km. That will have a financial inclusion impact. Otherwise, we should just say the Minister does not have that right and the penetration as regards...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: Yes, I hear what Mr. Gilvarry said, but I do not agree with him. I agree that there should be flexibility in the legislation, but all that is being done by allowing the Minister to drop the percentage of people who have access to cash within 10 km, is taking services away from rural areas. That is the reality of it. There will be people who are relying on that, which is making it a bit more...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: Let us circle back to the issue of the local deficiency, where a local deficiency has been identified, and the Central Bank of Ireland agrees that the deficiency has existed, how is it determined to resolve that? There will only be three institutions that will be party to resolve that. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: They are AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: What are they defined as?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: It does or does not?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: What percentage of household deposits are to Revolut at the minute?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: Household deposits are really to the three banks, where the figure is €150 billion. In the credit unions, the figure is €17 million. We therefore suspect that what Revolut has is tiny because, as Mr. Palmer said, they are secondary accounts and people use them for paying for things, for children's accounts, etc.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: That is okay. Let us go back to the core issue. Let us just continue this conversation. Revolut is now offering loans, it is doing vaults, etc. If Revolut has approximately €10 billion in deposits, it will become designated and will have to provide ATM machines. They will have to be part of the solution. Is that the case?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: That is okay. Let us go back to the question of the three that will be designated. Consider a hypothetical situation in Inis Meáin where an independent operator will close the ATM machine. A complaint will be made from the local comharchumann to the Central Bank of Ireland, which recognises that there is a local deficiency. How will that be resolved? There are three operations and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: It is an independent operator.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: Work together.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: Yes. I have two final points here. The banks will take issue with the fact that the independent operators - which have a huge number of ATMs in the State - are not being asked to share any of this burden. They will also raise issues, such as with the credit unions and An Post, which now has accounts but also operates as points for AIB and Bank of Ireland. What is the rationale for that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024: Discussion (27 Feb 2024)

Pearse Doherty: My final point on this is on the regulation of IADs. Head 10 of the Bill allows for the Minister to have the necessary powers to prohibit IADs from charging access fees if there is a change in the card scheme rules in the future. These are independent operators. They do not charge access fees at the moment. The legislation says that if they start to do it, the Minister can intervene and...