Explainer – How does Central Bank of Ireland support sufficient access to cash across Ireland?
Access to Cash legislation, introduced in 2025, aims to maintain sufficient and effective access to cash based on the levels that existed nationwide in December 2022.
Access to Cash Criteria
The Minister for Finance has specified access to cash criteria to ensure that individuals and businesses have reasonable and effective access to cash services.
To support this, the Central Bank monitors the number of ATMs and Cash Service Points across Ireland based on quarterly returns submitted by designated entities (currently AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB), ATM operators and An Post. Where we find that access to cash falls below the criteria in any region we engage with the designated entities to ensure they restore compliance with the access to cash criteria in that region.
Overall, our data indicates that the level of cash infrastructure is largely in line with the criteria set by the Minister for Finance. There are currently around 4,000 ATMs and around 1,200 Cash Service Points in Ireland. Following the commencement of the Central Bank’s monitoring earlier in 2026, a number of new ATMs have already been deployed by the designated entities in communities across the country to ensure compliance with the criteria – details are available on the BPFI website.
Local Deficiencies
The legislation recognises that localised access to cash issues may arise. Reasons for these difficulties may include, for example, difficult access to infrastructure because of a river, lake, motorway, or railway line that means increased travel times. Where this is the case, members of the public who believe they have insufficient access to cash – via ATMs or Cash Service Points – in a locality can notify the Central Bank by submitting a local deficiency notification.
The Central Bank assesses each notification carefully. When we are assessing a local deficiency in a local community, we consider things like the number, location and hours of availability of existing cash services in the local area, and the number of individuals likely to be affected by a deficiency. Travel, geographic, demographic and other factors are also considered. We have published details about the steps involved in our assessment process and our Local Deficiency Guidelines.
Where we determine that there is a deficiency in access to cash in a local area, we will also assess whether addressing this deficiency would be proportionate and we will engage with the designated entities to introduce new cash services, where appropriate. In thinking about this, we consider whether the deficiency might be temporary or if there are already plans in place for new services. We might also consider whether there is a suitable location available for a new ATM or CSP or whether the potential cost of introducing new services is proportionate.
We publish details of all notifications received as well as assessment report outcomes for each of them. Our assessment reports outline whether we have concluded that there is a local deficiency in a locality and if it requires provision of additional ATMs or Cash Service Points by the Designated Entities.
Where to find out more
To support you, the Central Bank has published numerous resources:
Do you have sufficient access to cash in your locality?
Access to Cash – For today. For tomorrow. For the future.