Bank of Ireland has said a few hundred customers may not have received new Visa debit cards issued by the banks which have left them unable to access their funds with Laser cards.

A spokesman for the bank said it had sent out about a million new Visa debit cards over the last year to replace Laser cards but that the cards may have been sent to addresses on the bank statements of customers that were no longer correct.

One bank teller in a branch in Dublin dealt with several customers yesterday who complained their Laser cards were no longer working. They were told that their cards had been deactivated two months after receiving their new cards.

"It is regrettable if anybody has been discommoded," he said, adding that the numbers who have not received cards were in the "low 100s".

The spokesman asked any customers whose Laser card was no longer working and who had not received their new card to contact their local branch or the bank's Banking 365 phone and online service.