Midlands North West MEP Chris MacManus has met with the European Commissioner for financial services, financial stability and Capital Markets Union, Mairéad McGuinness as part of the ‘right to cash’ campaign.
The Sinn Féin MEP met the commissioner in Brussels to discuss the EU‘s proposal on protecting the right to continue to use bank notes and coins.
MEP MacManus said: “This was an important meeting as Commissioner McGuinness is the commissioner responsible for the EU’s proposals on protecting cash.
“As one of six key MEPs shaping the new laws on protecting cash, I was able to give her an update on our progress in the European Parliament.
“The commission’s original proposal was weak in some respects. It needed strengthening in areas such as the banning of ‘No Cash’ signs and allowing for loopholes.
“So far I am making excellent progress in removing these exemptions, so that cash really is a right and not a privilege,” MacManus added.
Right to cash
Meanwhile, the right to continue to use notes and coins in a society far more orientated towards digital transactions nowadays is something that rural public representatives have also being campaigning for in Ireland.
In January of this year, Minister for Finance Michael McGrath published the General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill to avoid “financial exclusion”.
The bill stems from a recommendation made by the Retail Banking Review, published in November 2022.
The review called on government officials to require ATM operators to be “authorised and supervised” by the Central Bank, and provide the Central Bank with responsibility and powers to protect the cash system.
This includes the authorisation and supervision of cash-in-transit firms in respect of cash handling activities.
The legislation is aimed at regulating ATMs with the objective of improving operational standards and ensure good customer service.
More recently, the charity Age Action told politicians that access to cash is about being able to “buy something in a shop or a café, to buy a bottle of water on a train or attend a sporting match without being discriminated against”.
The charity, which advocates for older people, warned that older people are now “disproportionately likely to experience digital and social exclusion due to cashless payment models”.
According to Age Action, it said that it deals with cases of financial abuse and “forcing older persons” to use services and rely on skill sets with which they are not comfortable puts them at risk.