CREDIT CARD USAGE:THE MINISTER for Justice Dermot Ahern said an increase in the use of debit and credit cards for payment would help banks deal with so-called tiger kidnappings as branches would not hold so much cash in their vaults.
Mr Ahern met yesterday with the Irish Bank Officials’ Association (IBOA) to discuss means of deterring kidnapping robberies
Afterwards the Minister said: “We are among the top countries in Europe which have a lot of cash in everyday circulation. We need to address this issue.
“We need to focus on changing people’s habits, encouraging people to use plastic rather than cash – it is something I hope to address in the coming months.”
IBOA general secretary Larry Broderick described the meeting as “very positive” and said bank officials too were in favour of a more cashless society.
“We’ve been very clear and he has been very clear that the amount of cash in Irish society will have to change. It is a priority for us. That’s a very clear message.
“In Ireland we have a fixation that, whereever we go, we have to have cash. We suggested to him that he needs to do more analysis. There is far more cash in circulation in this country than there is in Scandinavia, Spain or Portugal, for instance,” he said.
He said banks needed to invest in technology that would allow targeted staff to alert gardaí without picking up the phone.
“We need to up our game in relation to protocols in the event of a ‘tiger kidnapping’ taking place.
“We’re talking about far greater use of technology, far greater minimisation of access to the likes of vaults and timelocks and security cameras linked to off-site areas. That will require an investment.”
