Protest in Ballyfermot over removal of Irish language option from ATMs
By Aura McMenamin
Sinn Fein are holding a protest tomorrow in Ballyfermot in front of Bank of Ireland.
This week the bank announced that their ATMs would be gradually replaced by newer LATMs, which allow people to lodge cash and cheques, would not feature an option to read messages in Irish.
Bigí Linn Tomorrow at 1:30pm @DaithiDoolan @aosnodaigh pic.twitter.com/Z6FvPYHoOS
— Ballyfermot SinnFéin (@BallyfermotSF) August 31, 2017
Local Sinn Fein representatives said the bank’s decision to remove the Irish language option from its ATMs is ‘an insult to the public’ and said there was a ‘large number’ of Irish
In a video posted on Facebook and Twitter, Ballyfermot TD Aengus O Snodaigh and local councillor Daithi Doolan called on the public to join them in front of the bank at 1:30 pm.
Cllr Doolan said: “It’s an insult. It wouldn’t happen in any other country. They wouldn’t remove the right of French people to use French in banks or Spanish people in Spain.”
Bank of Ireland defended their decision not to have Irish on their new LATMs because ‘fewer than one per cent’ of transactions used the Irish language option.
