I wish to raise issue that is very important to people in my constituency, particularly in the Palmerstown area, namely access to cash. The previous Government introduced the Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Bill and began preparing to put it on the Statute Book. It is to be restored to the programme of this Dáil. Will the Tánaiste expedite the entry into law of that Bill? There are older people in my constituency who do not have readily available access to an ATM and who may not be entirely comfortable with digital banking and so on. It is also important for community groups and SMEs that they have a sustainable, reliable and dedicated cash infrastructure available to them at all times. There is a technical detail to keep in mind with this legislation, which is that it is not necessarily just the as-the-crow-flies distance that matters in terms of cash infrastructure but the distance travelled as well, especially for people who have mobility issues. That needs to be taken into account. Access to cash is especially important to older people.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue for his constituents in Palmerstown and across Dublin Mid-West. He is right that this is an issue more broadly. People may feel anxiety in terms of everything moving to a digital or online world and will ask, "What about my needs and the needs of my community?". I assure those people the Government is conscious of this and that we intend to restore the access to cash Bill to the Order Paper. Indeed, we have done that. Once the committees are up and running, the Bill will resume on Committee Stage and we will be able to tease out the issues the Deputy raised in detail.