Cormac Devlin
Question:85. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Finance when he will legislate to ensure access to cash; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22617/24]
View answerTuesday, 21 May 2024
Questions (85)
Written answers
The Department of Finance's Retail Banking Review, published in November 2022, concluded that cash, despite a decline in its usage, remains an important element of the payments system and the broader economy and it is essential that cash remains readily available to customers through ATMs and other means across the country.
The Review recommended that the Department of Finance should develop Access to Cash legislation with the initial objective of developing criteria that would secure access to cash at about the levels prevailing in December 2022.
Accordingly, on the 23rd of January, I published the General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024 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.
Criteria will be prescribed on a regional basis to require that a percentage of the population must be within a distance of no more than 10 kilometres from an ATM and that there must be a minimum number of ATMs per 100,000 people.
There will be a separate population criterion, also based on a distance of no more than 10 kilometres, in relation to cash service points. These are defined as locations where cash can be lodged and withdrawn and where there is in-person assistance available during normal business hours. Bank branches and post offices, thanks to An Post's agency relationship with two large retail banks, satisfy this definition.
There will be separate criteria for each of the eight NUTS3 regions in the State. NUTS3 regions are a statistical unit of classification used by the European Union.
Ensuring compliance with the criteria will be the responsibility of designated entities that exceed prescribed percentage shares of current accounts and household deposits, which cannot in any event be set lower than 5%.
Currently, the three large retail banks exceed the proposed percentage shares.
The legislation will provide that these criteria can be amended by the Minister following a review of the criteria by the Central Bank. Reviews will have to be carried out following the publication of Census data or if cash demand drops by 15% in a calendar year compared to the previous year. Reviews may also be carried out at the request of the Minister or on the Central Bank’s own initiative.
In carrying out a review, the Central Bank must take must take account of a number of factors, including the level of cash demand, population changes, operational costs, and financial inclusion.
These provisions ensure that the criteria can be adjusted in response to the demand for cash in the State, and will ensure that the framework being put in place is adaptable in relation to demand.
The drafting of the Access to Cash Bill is a priority, and it is being progressed as such. I would like to highlight my appreciation for the input of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and Taoiseach, who promptly published their pre-legislative scrutiny report on the Access to Cash Bill.
The report of the Committee is welcomed, and the recommendations therein will be considered as the drafting of the Bill continues.
Subject to the completion of drafting and a required consultation with the European Central Bank, I intend to seek Government approval to publish the Bill prior to the end of July.