Cash-access facilities ‘largely in line’ with law
The Central Bank has published its first quarterly report under new rules on access to cash that came into effect last year.
The report uses newly collected data to show the number, location, and opening hours of ATMs and cash service points across eight geographical regions in Ireland, as of 31 December 2025.
The Central Bank has been charged, under the Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Act 2025, with monitoring whether criteria set by the Minister for Finance on access to cash are being met.
Criteria
These criteria include the minimum percentage of the population in each region that must be within 10 kilometres of an ATM and a cash service point, as well as the minimum number of ATMs per 100,000 people in each region.
The Central Bank says that its report shows that, overall, cash infrastructure across the country remains “largely in line” with the criteria.
The report shows that there are just over 4,000 ATMs in Ireland, and just over 1,200 cash service points.
It finds six instances where the criteria are not met but adds that, in all those cases, the shortfall relative to expected levels of the cash infrastructure is small.
Local deficiencies
Deputy governor Vasileios Madouros said that the firms responsible would need to rectify the shortfalls identified. AIB, Bank of Ireland, and Permanent TSB have been designated under the act as entities responsible for maintaining the criteria.
“We also recognise that, at a more local level, there may be specific challenges in accessing cash,” he stated.
From July, people will be able to make a submission to the Central Bank if they believe there is a local deficiency in relation to access to cash.