Sir, - I have just learned from my bank that I may not use my euro chequebook for continental transactions but must continue to purchase drafts as at present, the reasons given being so absurd as to be unbelievable.
As a former banker I know that each country in the eurozone already has an efficient cheque clearing system and the only difficulties in linking with other clearing systems are the differences in the currencies involved and the fluctuations in those currencies.
Provided that both currencies are constant and of equal value, the movement of cheques is no more difficult than it would be between Dublin and Cork. The fact that all cheques will now be in the same currency makes things even simpler since even the theoretical risk of one currency being devalued relative to the other has been removed.
A perfect example of this existed in the recent past in our own banking relationship with the UK when there was parity between the punt and sterling. At that time one could pay by cheque anywhere in these islands with no formality, delay or extra cost.
The euro was introduced for no other reason than to make payment for goods and services as simple between eurozone countries as it is within countries, and if the banks hope to introduce artificial barriers against this free movement they must be stopped before they get started.
The European Commission will eventually insist on this and will probably fine us for dragging our feet, but only after time-wasting and expensive litigation. And we, not the banks, will be called upon to pay. The banks themselves will comply only when compelled to do so.
The Government may not yet be aware of what the banks intend, or the banks may have assured them that there are other methods of payment. True, one may use the internet or the credit card, but neither of these is safe from the risk of serious fraud. - Yours, etc.,
Father Walter J. Hegarty, OP, St Mary's Priory, The Claddagh, Galway.