MINISTER FOR Justice Dermot Ahern has backtracked on his suggestion that more charges for ATM transactions might limit Ireland’s dependence on cash and in turn discourage bank robberies.
Mr Ahern yesterday moved to clarify his position following strong criticism of his proposal and a less-than-ringing endorsement from Taoiseach Brian Cowen and his Cabinet colleagues.
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Batt O’Keeffe distanced himself from the proposal, saying it was not being considered by Government.
Mr Cowen stopped short of fully supporting Mr Ahern’s initial idea, which came in the wake of the latest bank robbery involving hostage-taking.
Fine Gael described the mooted bank charges as a “kidnap tax”, saying it would penalise bank customers for the actions of armed gangs.
Mr Ahern made his initial remarks on Thursday after it emerged the wife of an AIB bank manager had been held hostage at gunpoint for almost 15 hours. She was freed on Thursday afternoon at a quarry near Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, after her husband got €300,000 from the AIB in Clondalkin, west Dublin, and gave it to the gang.
Mr Ahern said Ireland needed to examine its dependence on cash, adding there was far more cash in circulation here than in other EU countries.
He said if this could be tackled, the banks would store less money and gangs would come to see bank robberies as less attractive.
“We’re the only country in Europe that doesn’t charge for money coming out of the hole in the wall and that is something I think will have to be looked at,” he said. However, following widespread criticism yesterday, Mr Ahern moved to clarify his remarks.
He said that Irish people on average withdrew €6,500 a year from ATMs, more than three times the EU average of €2,000.
He said he had simply suggested that if we brought practices here in line with our EU neighbours, there would be less money stored in banks, and in circulation generally, to be stolen by gangs.
Mr Ahern added he had merely been suggesting ways of “incentivising” Irish people into these safer practices. “I wasn’t suggesting that more taxes or more charges should be put on people. God almighty, in this day in age. . . ’’
However, before moving yesterday afternoon to clarify his position, Mr Ahern’s initial remarks prompted a widespread and mostly negative reaction.
Mr O’Keeffe said he had not spoken to Mr Ahern about the proposal. “It certainly hasn’t been raised as an issue at Cabinet and certainly isn’t an issue that is live with Government ministers.”
Mr Cowen said all avenues must be explored to try to reduce the level of cash available for armed gangs to target during robberies but stopped short of supporting the initial idea.
Fine Gael’s justice spokesman Alan Shatter said that Mr Ahern’s “kidnap tax” was “ridiculous”.
If Mr Ahern persisted with his “bizarre policy initiative”, Irish people could expect a tax on all households in response to burglaries and a pedestrian tax for entering a new street in response to muggings.
Labour’s spokesman on justice Pat Rabbitte said: “Just when you think that it is not possible for this Government to show themselves to be any more out of touch with the man or woman in the street, up comes Dermot Ahern with a proposal to penalise ordinary bank customers in order to combat tiger kidnappings.”
Sinn Féin’s finance spokesman Arthur Morgan said the Government had “once again shown its affinity for strangling the domestic economy through the imposition of stealth taxes”.