IT WASN’T the end of the world yesterday, though if you were a Bank of Ireland customer living in parts of Dublin it must have felt that way at times.
You wake up to another two inches of snow. You find that you can’t withdraw money from your bank. Your local authority says it’s switching the water off for the night. And then there’s the Budget.
By evening, though, you have passed into the after-life; the ATMs are working again and everyone says the bank is giving away money for free. Instead of snow, it’s raining euro from heaven – or so say the lines of people queuing up at the teller machines.
For a time, it seems that the bust is just a dream. Rumours spread that the same ATMs which were so shy about giving money earlier in the day are now spewing out bills. From Manor Street to Walkinstown, the IFSC to Ballyfermot, queues gather in response to reports of “free money” going a-begging.
It is enough to make you forget the Budget of a thousand cuts – well, almost. Reality, once again, intrudes. No one will actually confirm they got money they weren’t entitled to. Some machines stop working.
Gardaí appear to question bank customers. And, finally, the machines start working properly.
Last night, a Bank of Ireland spokeswoman was on hand to explain yet another strange day in Irish banking. On Budget day of all days, the bank had suffered a major computer fault, as a result of which 1.2 million customers lost access to phone, ATM and internet banking.
The bank then took a decision to allow its ATMs to operate in offline mode. This had two effects: customers with money in their accounts were often unable to withdraw as much as they wanted; and customers with no funds to their name were nevertheless able to take money out. While the first category of customer groaned about the inconvenience, the second told their friends about the bank’s early Christmas present, and the queues started to form.
Earlier in the day, with the eyes of the world's media fixed on Ireland for Budget day, the bank's difficulties quickly became world news. The BBC and the Wall Street Journalreported its apology for the systems failure that prevented customers from withdrawing anything but small amounts of cash.
Twitter and the rest of the internet hummed with the choicest conspiracy theories, and there were reminders of former footballer Eric Cantona’s call on people to withdraw their money from the banks.
And then, after Brian Lenihan delivered his hairshirt Budget and it seemed as though the online problem was resolved, the ATMs started working again to such strange effect.
Sadly, the bank’s bonanza looks like disappearing as fast as the melting snow on Dublin’s streets; the bank spokeswoman said customers would have to repay any money they had withdrawn in excess of their limit.