THE REMOVAL of the only ATM from a rural Galway village will have a major impact on the local economy as tourists go elsewhere to spend their money, a local shopkeeper has claimed.
Michael Reynolds, owner of Ferrons grocery shop, which houses the only ATM in Roundstone, said that Bank of Ireland’s threat to remove the ATM from his shop would affect the local community and have an impact on tourism in the coastal village. He said that, due to lack of public transport, locals would in future have to take a taxi to Ballyconneely 8km away to withdraw money.
“Because we’re a holiday destination, we’ve a number of BBs – none of which offer a credit card service – so they rely on people being able to come into the shop,” he said. He added that local bars and shops also relied on the ATM.
“If they can’t get money out here they’ll go somewhere else to spend their money,” he said.
Mr Reynolds said many people did not realise that he was responsible for filling the ATM.
“If I have a daily taking of €2,000 then that money goes into the ATM. When someone makes a withdrawal their account is debited and my account is credited.
“The demand for money is greater than my supply so the machine is going out of service – we’re basically running out of cash.” He said he then had to pay fees to the bank if he was to keep the ATM in stock.
A spokeswoman for the bank said it had 250 branches and about 1,500 ATMs, adding that the bank’s presence in local communities was core to its strategy.
“Bank of Ireland is very much aware of the customer impact caused by the closure of an ATM and decisions of this nature are only taken after considerable debate,” the spokeswoman said.
She added that the model was dependent on the retailer having “appropriate levels of cashflow in order to self-fill the ATM”.