ATM sell-off is one we need to watch closely
IT hasn’ t quite come to the fore just yet but it may well do in the final week of the General Election campaign and it is something the public needs to become aware of and make it a real issue for our politicians to deal with it just like the fur ore surrounding the rising of the State pension age.
Let us remind ourselves that the Irish taxpayer bailed out, beginning in 2009, the following banks, AIB, Anglo Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, EBS (now part of AIB), Irish Life & Permanent (since separated into Irish Life and Permanent TSB) and Irish Nationwide Building Society to the tune of €64 billion.
The banks owe this country an awful lot, yet pay no tax on profits, failed to co-operate during the tracker mortgage scandal and now they see an opportunity to make even more money on the back of taxpayers and the general public in a sneaky stealth tax.
Bank of Ireland is set to sell off a network of 700 ATMs, while AIB is seeking bids for 375 of its cash machines.
The machines being sold are largely based in retail outlets, and represent more than a quarter of all cash machines in the country.
There are currently around 3,000 ATMs owned by banks, and another 750 owned by independent providers.
The big fear is that the companies who own ATMs independently of banks are likely to impose charges and fees for using them in the region of €3 or €4 a time.
This would be in addition to the fees imposed by banks for withdrawing cash from an ATM.
Bank of Ireland charges its customers 25 cent for cash withdrawals, with AIB charging 35 cent unless certain conditions are met to avail of fee-free banking.
Ulster Bank has already sold a network of 400 ATMs to US giant Euronet. That company now owns 600 ATM machines here, making it one of the dominant operators in the sector.
The general public is sick of the way banks have been bailed out with billions of euro with the taxpayer footing the bill and now that they are back in profit are not behind a scheme that’ ll see the public suffer even more.
The Government has to have the resolve to deal with the banks and force them not to seel off the machines or least insist that no fees are charged for transactions. LPT rises, USC, carbon taxes, the list goes on.