“People power has prevailed” – MacManus welcomes AIB U-Turn on Cashless Branches

Sinn Féin MEP Chris MacManus has welcomed AIB’s decision to reverse plans to remove basic services from branches across the country.  “People power has certainly prevailed here. AIB has reversed their decision to make branches cashless. Pressure from the public has rightly made the Bank reconsider what would’ve been an outrageous move.” 

MacManus said the plans were short-sighted and would’ve had a devastating impact on rural communities. 

“Accessing cash is a fairly basic service provided by any bank and the loss of these services would’ve had a massive impact on customers and businesses, especially vulnerable people and rural communities. Many people need to bank using cash for a range of valid reasons.”

“It would’ve been a terrible decision, which would’ve left many towns with no in-branch cash or ATM services and forced people to travel long distances to access banking services in-branch.” 

MacManus concluded by calling on AIB to give people full reassurance of long term cash service availability. “I sincerely hope this is not a cynical ploy to temporarily appease the public by AIB. I think this week the people of Ireland have made it very clear that the removal of cash banking is completely unacceptable. Let’s not forget, the state owns a 69% majority share of AIB. I believe that both AIB and the government must now reassure the public that these vital cash services will be provided into the long term.” ENDS