If you are travelling to the UK or any country that doesn’t use the EURO – it is very easy to use your  debit card at an ATM to withdraw Sterling or other currencies – but be aware that your bank will usually charge you a fee.

The foreign  (Non Euro) ATM cash withdrawal charges for the main Irish banks are listed below. (Withdrawals of Euro should be free)

Ulster Bank 2% (min €3, max €12), plus foreign exchange fee of 1.5%
(But if you use an ATM in the UK  owned by Ulster Bank, Easy Cash,Royal Bank of Scotland or NatWest , you will not be charged.)

AIB – Currency conversion fee of up to 3% (depending on currency) plus commission of 1% (min €1.27, max €6.35)

BOI 3.5% (min €3.17, max €11.43)

NIB 3.5% (min €3.17, max €11.43)

PTSB 3.5% (min €3.17, max €11.43)

So – a withdrawal of £200 at at ATM will cost you £7  (about €8 ) with most bank’s debit cards  -  the AIB fee is not so clear cut – but it will be a similar amount.
Making four smaller withdrawals of £50 will cost you the minimum fee €3.17 each time – so a total of  €12.68
There will be no fee with an Ulster card at certain UK  banks (see above)

If you are looking to transfer large amounts of Euro to Sterling – take a look at our page on how to get the Best Euro Sterling Exchange Rates

Allied Irish Banks have recently reduced the daily cash withdrawal limits from ATMs outside Ireland. The new limits mainly affect countries outside the EU and have been introduced to counter fraud and card cloning

A notice on the AIB website  said
“If you’re planning to use your AIB debit card at ATMs abroad please note that the current daily cash withdrawal limit of up to €600 will vary depending on the location. In some cases, the daily cash withdrawal limit may be €100 or less, particularly in non-European locations.”

There are reports that Bank of Ireland’s cash machines are not working.
Today is the day that Eric Cantona (yes the ex footballer)  called for everyone to withdraw all their cash from the banks. Maybe BOI can’t cope ?

It turns out that there is a major problem with the computer system at BOI . It probably means that until it is fixed that BOI customers will not be able to get cash at any ATM (even othe Banks) – they may also have problems with Laser card payments in shops.
Apparently – there were long queues at BOI cash machines after reports that they were dishing out money even though customers knew there was nothing in their accounts !