[ad_1]
Law will also mandate banks and ATM operators to ensure cash machines are evenly spread throughout the country and adequately maintained and stocked
Finance Minister Michael McGrath. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire
There will be no opt-outs for small or rural shops from a future requirement to take cash payments, the finance minister has said, insisting that “cash is here to stay”.
Michael McGrath said he wants to ensure that people retain the right to pay cash for “certain goods and services that are important in people’s day-to-day life”, despite Ireland seeing a massive drop in the use of cash payments since 2015.
“I don’t think we can have significant carve-outs for businesses based on geographic location because those could be the very locations where people are most at risk of financial exclusion,” said Mr McGrath.
A new access to cash law is currently being finalised by the Department of Finance. Mr McGrath hopes to bring an initial draft or heads of bill to Government “early in the new year”.
That law will also mandate banks and ATM operators to ensure cash machines are evenly spread throughout the country and adequately maintained and stocked, under the supervision of the Central Bank. Almost two-thirds of ATMs are operated by private firms such as Eurocash and Euronet.
“Cash will continue to have a very significant role to pay into the future, and I think it is about time now we legislate for that,” said Mr McGrath. “Cash is here to stay and it needs to be, because it forms an important part of the day-to-day life of many people across our country and it’s important that we don’t force change on people.”
Cash will continue to have a very significant role to pay into the future
Mr McGrath said the rules for cash acceptance in shops would be based on “the nature of the good or service that is being provided”. “I think necessities is where you certainly start, to make sure that nobody is excluded,” he said.
Draft EU rules on cash tabled during the summer mention supermarkets, pharmacies and local newsagents as “essential” retailers. The European Central Bank wants a complete ban on “no cash” policies in all shops, hospitals and public bodies, including museums.
Restaurants and retailers hit out at the cash mandate when it was mooted as part of the retail banking review last year, and local newsagents fear they will be hardest hit by the ATM requirements.
Last year a public outcry forced AIB, which was majority state-owned at the time, to row back on a decision to remove cash-handling facilities, including ATMs, from 70 branches.
Retailers and other interest groups will be able to have their say on access to cash and other aspects of the Government’s national payments strategy in a public consultation that opened on Tuesday and runs until February 14 next year.
[ad_2]
Source link