Ministers Donohoe and Troy welcome passing of the Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Bill

Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe welcomes the passage of the Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Bill 2024, which will ensure continued sufficient and effective access to cash in the State.

Minister Donohoe said,

Minister of State Robert Troy also commented,

The Bill requires the Minister, following consultation with the Central Bank of Ireland, to prescribe the percentage of the population that must be within a specified distance of not less than 5km and not more than 10km of an ATM and cash service point (bank branches and post offices) in each of the eight NUTS3 regions in the State. The Minister must also set the minimum number of ATMs per 100,000 people in each region.

The Bill will require designated entities, whose share of current accounts and household deposits exceed percentages prescribed by the Minister for Finance, to be responsible for maintaining access to cash levels. The designated entities, will, initially, be the three main retail banks.

The Central Bank of Ireland will be responsible for the monitoring and enforcement of the legislation and will have the necessary powers to ensure compliance with the access to cash criteria.

The Bill also provides for the remedying of local deficiencies. These are locations within a NUTS3 region where particular difficulties arise in accessing cash. The Central Bank will assess such cases and, where warranted, may require designated entities to address the issue. The Central Bank will prepare and publish guidance on local deficiencies prior to implementation of the framework.

The Bill also requires ATM deployers and cash-in-transit providers to register with the Central Bank. The legislation will give the Central Bank the power to make regulations to prescribe requirements for all ATM operators in relation to reporting and service standards. This includes hours of operation, withdrawal limits, banknote denomination stocking, outages, maximum downtime periods, and signage and communication requirements.

The Bill also provides for the Central Bank to carry out and publish a cost-benefit analysis of any regulations it proposes to make. This delivers another recommendation of the 2022 Retail Banking Review.

There were very positive contributions from across the political spectrum during the legislative process. This led to constructive engagement with the Bill as it passed through the Houses of the Oireachtas. In particular, the recommendations made by the Pre-Legislative Scrutiny Report Joint Oireachtas Committee for Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach were reflected in the Bill.

Now that the Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Bill 2024 has passed all stages in the Houses of the Oireachtas as of today, it will be sent to Uachtarán na hÉireann to be signed into law.

Notes for Editors

Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Bill 2024

Arising from recommendations in the Department of Finance’s Retail Banking Review 2022, the objectives of the Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Bill 2024 are; to ensure sufficient and effective access to Cash in the State; to provide a framework to manage future changes to the cash infrastructure in fair, equitable and transparent manner; and to bring cash-in-transit providers and independent ATM deployers within the regulatory perimeter of the Central Bank of Ireland.

The Bill will do so by providing for the prescription by the Minister for Finance of criteria, at regional level, to, initially, preserve cash infrastructure at about December 2022 levels, taking account of the exits of Ulster Bank and KBC. The criteria will set out for each region:

• A specified percentage of the population that must be within a specified distance of not less than 5km and no more than 10km of an ATM;
• A minimum number of ATMs per 100,000 people; and;
• A specified percentage of the population that must be within a specified distance of not less than 5km and no more than 10km of a cash service point (bank branches and post offices).

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.

Provision is made for the review of the access to criteria by the Central Bank following each census or if there is a 15% drop in cash demand year on year, or if requested by the Minister. Such reviews must take factors such as population changes and changes in cash demand into account. Based on these reviews, the Minister may then amend the criteria for one or more than one region.

Responsibility for ensuring the access to cash criteria are met lies with the designated entities, which will be credit institutions whose share of current accounts and household deposits exceed percentages to be set by Ministerial regulation. Under the Bill, the percentages must be between 5% and 15%. Any percentages in this range will result in the three main retail banks being designated entities in the first instance.

Provision is also made for the rectification of local deficiencies. These are locations within a NUTS3 region where particular difficulties arise in accessing cash, even if the core criteria for a NUTS3 region is being complied with. The Central Bank will prepare and publish guidance on the assessment and classification of local deficiencies.

The Central Bank will be responsible for the monitoring and enforcement of this legislation. Monitoring will be on a quarterly basis and the Bank will have the necessary powers to direct designated entities to implement measures to comply with the core criteria and local deficiencies. It will also conduct regular reviews of the core criteria and prepare a report for the Minister, who may amend the criteria by regulation.

The Bill also requires ATM operators and Cash in Transit (CIT) providers to be registered and supervised by the Central Bank of Ireland. The provides the Central Bank with regulation making powers in relation to matters such as reporting, setting service standards, and other matters such as denomination stocking. Its aim is to ensure that ATM operators and CIT providers are regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland in an appropriate but not overly burdensome manner, while ensuring the resilience of the system and sufficient services.

The General Scheme of the Bill underwent pre-legislative scrutiny by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and the Taoiseach, whose report was taken into consideration during the drafting of the Bill. The responses to its recommendations are summarised below.

• The report contained fourteen recommendations, eight of which were either taken on board or had already been reflected in drafting of the Bill. Two recommendations were not fully adopted: that of an additional access to cash criterion for 5km, and the establishment of a monitoring and review group.
• Adding an additional criterion for 5km was considered, which revealed that the addition of a separate 5km criteria would be disproportionately restrictive, counter to the smooth operation of the framework and could be confusing for members of the public. However, a change was made such that the Minister for Finance may specify a percentage of the population to be within a distance of not less than 5km and no more than 10km of an ATM or cash service point.
• Similarly, having considered establishing a monitoring and review group, it was concluded that through the Bill, the Central Bank has a number of avenues for consultation with, and representation of, different stakeholder groups, through provisions that require consultation when producing guidelines for local deficiencies, reports on the access to cash criteria, and requirements to notify the public of changes to the ATM infrastructure. These elements sufficiently address the need in the recommendation, and as a result, no changes were made.
• Three recommendations related to the accessibility of ATMs. Accessibility is governed by the European Union (Accessibility Requirements of Products and Services) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 636/2023) which transposed the requirements of the European Accessibility Act (EAA) into Irish law. This includes requirements that ATMs contain features, elements and functions that allow persons with disabilities to access, perceive, operate, understand and control them.
• The regulations in S.I. 636 address the accessibility issues raised by the Committee in its Pre-Legislative Scrutiny report. The implementation of this legislation is the responsibility of the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality. Monitoring and compliance of ATMs with these requirements will lie with the Central Bank.
• Lastly, one recommendation welcomed the inclusion of provisions to ban or cap ATM access fees, so no action was needed.

*These are 43 ATMs in locations such as sports stadia or concert venues, which are only open for events.

**Cash Service Points are defined as locations where cash can be deposited and withdrawn where in person assistance is available during normal business hours. Their purpose is primarily to cover the lodgement requirement but they also fulfil a critical secondary importance of facilitating ‘assisted cash’. This is for people who, due to whatever reason including disability, cannot use ATMs by themselves.

(Source: Central Bank of Ireland)

NUTS Regions in Ireland

Ireland in its entirety comprises the NUTS1 Region. There are 3 NUTS2 Regions and 8 NUTS3 Regions in Ireland (in bold), set out below:

• Northern and Western Region, consisting of:
  • Border – Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, and Sligo; and
  • West – Galway County, Galway City, Mayo, and Roscommon;
    
• Southern Region, consisting of:
  • Mid-West – Clare, Limerick County, Limerick City and Tipperary;
  • South-East – Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford County, and Waterford City; and
  • South-West – Cork, Cork City, and Kerry;
    
• Eastern and Midland Region, consisting of:
  • Dublin – Dublin City, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, and South Dublin;
  • Mid-East – Kildare, Louth, Meath, and Wicklow; and
  • Midland – Laois, Longford, Offaly, and Westmeath.