Are there any Canadians out there, who have successfully used their ATM cards in Ireland?

Oh it worked just fine until I returned home and got my bank statement which showed a $5 service charge for each withdrawel.

I used my atm card often in Ireland without a problem. Check with you bank re the fee charged (approx. $2)per transaction.

NO problem at all.<BR>But I did take two cards with me, just in case....one with the 'Plus' logo and the other with the 'cirrus' logo. but even in the smaller towns up in Donegal I had no problem.<BR>

Kodi- I do have two cards, one from the Scotia, and the other from TD-Canada Trust, but both of them bear the PLUS logo, I'm just wondering which Canadian bank would have the Cirrus?

Since Cirrus is the Mastercard network, I imagine Bank of Montreal and Banque Nationale would offer Cirrus labeled ATM cards.

Hi Gerald,<BR>Ron is quite right. I got my 'cirrus' card at Bank of Montreal.<BR>I don't think I really needed it, but I felt better having the two different cards.<BR>Good luck.

Thanks Ron, and Kodi- one more thing Kodi- someone told me that you have to restrict the number of digits in your PIN number to four, just wanted to verify that.

Hi Gerald,<BR>Both my 'pins' were already 4 digits, so I'm really not sure if there are restrictions. YOu might be better off to stick to 4 digits....just to be safe.<BR>Something else I was careful about.<BR>IF my memory serves me correctly, there were ATM machines on some streets, the same as here in Canada where we have them in convenience stores. but there was a charge for using them, so I always made sure I used the machines that were actually part of a bank. <BR>Good luck and enjoy your trip.<BR> <BR>

Yes. I traveled with Canadians in Ireland and they had problems with ATMs

I would also like to use my Canadian ATM card to be the main financial source for my holiday in Ireland, but I'm not sure about what to do for backup. Are travellers' checks too expensive, should we take Canadian money to exchange at the Dublin airport, or bring euros with us ? Which way do you get the better rate? We arrive on a Friday afternoon, so if for some reason our ATM cards failed, we would have to carry a certain amount of money for the week-end, anyway. Happy to get sme advice.

Tracey, the cheapest solution is to take a few hundred dollars in traveller's cheques as backup(in $can, that way you don't wind up paying the exchange rate twice if you don't use them.)You'll also be using your credit card a lot, so you don't need that many cheques.<BR><BR>If you consult with your bank a couple weeks in advance (later if you live in a major centre) you can arrange to have them sell you a couple of hundred in euros to see you through the first couple of days. The exchange rate is not that bad, usually, and it beats having to deal with lineups at the airport just to get your starting cash. <BR><BR>

I think if you take two cards, the chance of both of them failing is pretty slim. but I also took my visa card as a backup and also bought $200 or $300 worth of Irish punts (before Euros) before I left home. This will give you four different options when you arrive, so I'm sure you'll be fine.<BR>I don't think you'll need to bother with travellers cheques.