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Sat 09 Sep 2010Plan to fight crime with ATM fee does not add up
OPINION:Proposed ATM charge has everything to do with bullying customers into doing what the banks want us to do, writes FINTAN O'TOOLE
EVEN THOUGH he withdrew it rather awkwardly on Liveline yesterday, there was a certain logic to Dermot Ahern’s proposal to charge us every time we take money from an ATM bank machine. After all, we pay from our taxes to put the money into the bank – to the tune of at least €25 billion. Why shouldn’t we pay to take it out as well? There would be a certain symmetry to the fleecing, a full circle of effrontery. On one side of the equation, we pony up for the costs of pinstripe banksterism. On the other, we shell out because of the actions of a ruder, more traditional breed of bank robbers.
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