Islanders left cashless due to lack of ATM money

Achill islanders left stranded by lack of ATM money


Island’s only ATM out of service

Edwin McGreal

The only ATM on Achill Island was out of service for a week last week, meaning no access to cash for islanders and visitors to Achill.
The Bank of Ireland ATM is located outside Sweeney’s in Achill Sound and has been out of service on a regular basis in recent months but last week’s closure for one full week exasperated islanders.
One Achill resident who contacted The Mayo News to highlight the problem made five unsuccessful trips from his home in The Valley to Achill Sound in a bid to get money to pay his rent.
Michael Calvey travelled a total of 90 miles in vain in search of money from his Bank of Ireland account.
“The only way to get money then is to go into Sweeney’s Super Valu and you’ve to spend a minimum of €10 there to use your card and get money back. I’m a Bank of Ireland customer and this is not good enough,” Mr Calvey told The Mayo News.
Cllr MicheΡl McNamara, an Achill-based member of Mayo County Council, confirmed to The Mayo News that he had received numerous complaints about the ATM being out of service.
“First of all we are fortunate to have an ATM here serviced by Bank of Ireland, it is the only ATM in the parish but it is important for a tourist area like Achill that there is an ATM working all the time. It is important for everyone that lives here too, people need cash to carry out transactions. People were very unhappy with the bank for this delay and rightly so,” Cllr McNamara said.
He confirmed he contacted Bank of Ireland about the problem and they replied to him last week, in an email seen by The Mayo News, stating the problem was ‘high priority’. There was, he was told, a problem with the company who deliver cash to ATM machines for Bank of Ireland. There is no permanent bank in Achill, although mobile banks do visit the island. The ATM in Achill Sound was back in service at the weekend.
However, Michael Calvey argues this is not an isolated incident.
“It’s pot luck if you get it working or not. It has got to the stage where people send a text to friends to ask them if they’ve been in the Sound and if the ATM is working before making the trip themselves,” he said.
“If this machine is out of order so often, could Bank of Ireland not look at installing another ATM somewhere else on the island?
“It is okay if an ATM is out of order in Castlebar because you can walk 50 yards to the next ATM. It’s not like that in Achill.
“I went down on Monday last and within five minutes of me being unable to use it, I saw 10 other people walking away from it, cursing the machine,” he said.