This is a subscriber-only article
Bank of Ireland is offering a limited service to its rural customers as a result of some of its branches going ‘‘counter-less’’, Fianna Fáil TD Éamon Ó Cuív has said.
As a result of the changes, businesses can’t lodge more than €3,000 and can’t withdraw more than the maximum daily ATM amount, the Galway West TD told the Irish Farmers Journal.
“That’s a limited bank service and it looks to me that it’s happening all over the country.
“Farmers who would be buying or selling on the land [are affected], not everyone goes to the mart and these tend to be cash transactions.
“From a farmer’s point of view, this is a problem. They [Bank of Ireland] should scale back the numbers of branches [gone counter-less] in rural areas.”
Ó Cuív said that there isn’t the same level of trading in cash in towns and cities as there is in rural communities.
Headford Mart
The Bank of Ireland branch in Headford, Co Galway recently went counter-less.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Headford Mart manager Joe Wynne said that if the mart needs a large amount of cash then it has to give notice to the Headford branch that it wants to withdraw it.
However, if he needed cash on a Friday evening he would have to go to the Tuam branch in order to get it.
“If we need to get cash out, I have to give notice. But if I’m stuck on a Friday for cash I have to go to Tuam.
“I think that the [cash desks] should be reopened. The bank needs a teller.”
SHARING OPTIONS: