The Bank of Ireland yesterday experienced technical problems with the processing of debit card transactions, leaving thousands of customers unable to withdraw money or pay for goods.

According to the bank, one in seven customers were affected by the problem, which it stated has now been resolved.

“We’re aware some customers are having intermittent issues with debit card point of sale and ATM transactions,” the bank stated on social media on Thursday evening. Credit cards were working, as were Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank ATMs, while cash advance fees on transactions were waived.

The bank apologised for the inconvenience, but gave no further explanation for the problem. The fact many customers were on summer holidays when stranded without usable debit cards has made the backlash worse.

Irish political party Sinn Féin were among those calling for answers. Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty called the issue completely unacceptable.

“I have heard reports of people on holiday left without cash or people missing important transactions because of this failure,” he said. “I am angered that, fresh in the wake of the Visa system failure and Ulster Bank’s various problems, once again customers are left without access to their own money.”


At the start of June, a malfunction of hardware in one of Visa’s data centre caused an outage that left millions of people across Europe unable to make card payments.

“The usual story is the bank apologises and nothing more is done,” Pearse continued. “We need stronger penalties and a more robust approach from the Central Bank to banks who fail their consumers to find out what happened and to be ready and willing to fine the banks for the disruption caused after swift investigations.”

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