Seanad debates

Wednesday, 21 May 2003

Rural Development Policy: Statements (Resumed).

 

We must always look at young people. During a debate on post offices, an argument was made that young people do not want post offices, rather they want ATMs. We must recognise that 70% of young people go to third level institutions and all of them acquire, almost on the first day of college, a card which they use to withdraw cash. I welcome the creativity of solving the problem, about which I had meetings with the bank federation just two years ago, of providing in-store ATMs in rural areas. There were good reasons the problem was solved in this creative way, rather than installing ATMs in walls. The cost of running and filling an ATM was the dilemma, but this has been dealt with because it is the sharp shop operator who will be responsible for filling the ATM. People will withdraw money and, if he is lucky, they will put some of it back into his till and he will then put it back into the machine. Therefore, the big cost associated with a conventional ATM will be tackled. Our focus should, in the first instance, be on development and, in the second, on dealing with problems in new and modern ways.

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