Minister for Finance Michael McGrath has said he expects protections which would mean people will always be able to pay cash for goods and services deemed to be essential.
It comes after the Cabinet approved the general scheme of the Access to Cash Bill which is designed to ensure continued availability of cash and ATMs in the State.
The measures are designed to “anchor” access to ATMs at December 2022 levels, which was following the exit of KBC and Ulster Bank, and ensure that people do not experience financial exclusion.
The Department of Finance also said that access to cash provides a safety net in the event of electronic banking or payments infrastructure being affected by outages or cyber-attacks.
Speaking to reporters at the Department of Finance in Dublin, Mr McGrath said the bill comes out of the retail banking review that was completed in 2022.
The Bill requires compliance with regional criteria that set the minimum numbers of ATMs per 100,000 people, and the proportion of people living within 10km of an ATM and a cash service point.
The move to a more digitalised banking model, along with the costs involved in handling cash, have incentivised the traditional banks to move away from cash.
That existing decline in the use of cash was accelerated during the pandemic.
Mr McGrath said there would be even less availability of cash without the Government intervention and that would have resulted in the exclusion of people from functioning society.
He said “It is evident that were we to do nothing, access to cash would become more and more limited and that is not acceptable because many people do rely on it.
“The use it for their own budgeting, they use it for the purchase of essential goods and services.”
He added: “Cash is here to stay.”
Mr McGrath said he accepted that there were costs for banks associated with maintaining cash services and ATMs but added: “I do think for many people in their day-to-day life access to cash and the ability to use it is important and we need the banks to play a role in vindicating those rights.”
There will also be provisions for communities to apply to the Central Bank for an assessment if they feel that they are not adequately served by ATMs.
Responsibility for compliance rests with the three main retail banks.
If a retail bank does not comply with a direction from the Central Bank, it would become subject to potential administrative sanctions.
In addition to protecting ATM availability, the Bill would give the Central Bank powers in relation to setting standards on matters such as maintenance and denomination stocking.
Asked if small businesses would be forced to accept cash in the future, Mr McGrath said the Department had not come to a final view on the matter but added there will be changes under the national payment strategy.
He said: “We will have to make policy decisions. I would envisage that we would define certain essential goods and services where a right to pay with cash is appropriate.”
A consultation process on the national payment strategy ends February 14.
