Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Act 2025 is the result of a recommendation in the Department of Finance’s 2022 Review of Retail Banking.The objectives of the Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Act 2025 are:

• to ensure sufficient and effective access to cash in the State;
• to put in place a framework to manage future changes to the cash infrastructure in a fair, orderly, equitable, and transparent manner; and
• to bring cash-in-transit providers (CITs) and independent ATM deployers within the regulatory perimeter of the Central Bank of Ireland.

The Act requires the Minister for Finance to prescribe initial regional criteria for cash infrastructure, having regard to the level of infrastructure at the end of December 2022, taking account of the exits of Ulster Bank and KBC. The regions used for the criteria will be the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics 3 (NUTS3) regions of Ireland, as defined by Eurostat. There are eight NUTS3 regions in Ireland.

The Act also requires ATM deployers and CIT providers to be registered with the Central Bank of Ireland. The Act provides the Central Bank with regulation-making powers in relation to matters such as reporting, service standards, and other matters such as denomination stocking.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Bill 2024 was signed into law on 20 May 2025. Work will now begin to commence the legislation. Subsequent to commencement, the process for establishing in regulations, the access to cash criteria and thresholds for identifying designated entities may begin. The legislation will be commenced on the 30 June 2025, and I expect the associated regulations to be completed in Q3 2025.