Overview

Ireland is one of the highest users of cash, and consequently, Irish people are among the highest users of ATMs.

There are about 3,000 ATMs in Ireland.  These machines pay out over €25bn per annum – or over €6000 per capita.  The daily payout, if stacked, would be many times taller than the Spire in O Connell St (120m).  Over 4m cards in Ireland have ATM capability.  These include stand-alone cards, combination cards (ATM combined with Laser and/or cheque guarantee) and credit cards.  Many people hold two or more cards, and so the number of ATM users is a lot less than 4m.

The ATMs are linked to their banks, and each bank is linked to the others, so that ATM cards issued by one bank may be used in another.  Additionally, most banks are linked to the Mastercard and/or Visa systems, so that a wide variety of international cards can be accepted by Irish ATMs.

Cash paid out by ATMs is checked for quality and checked for counterfeit.

If you ever wondered what's inside an ATM, click here

Limits on ATM withdrawals

Both the owners of ATM machines and the card issuing bank have facilities to limit ATM withdrawals.  The maximum amount paid out will be the lower of these limits.  The card issuing bank may limit individual cards, and in particular, may permit high users of cash to draw higher amounts.

Charges for ATM transactions

The Financial Regulator conducts regular surveys of charges for current account services.  These can be accessed on www.itsyourmoney.ie and typically range from €0.0 to €0.28.  There are no additional charges in Ireland levied by the ATM owner for transactions for other banks.  So you can use your card freely in any ATM without extra charge. (Note:- certain banks limit some cards to withdrawals in the banks own ATM only.)

There are no additional charges for withdrawing euros in any euro country.  (Note that charges may apply in certain countries which use euros but are not officially euro countries e.g. Kosovo)