Compare every Irish debit card in 2026 — AIB, Bank of Ireland, PTSB, An Post, Revolut, N26 and bunq — on monthly fees, ATM charges and foreign spending.
Updated
Ireland has four bank-issued debit cards and three digital banks worth comparing. The banks have converged on roughly €6 to €8 a month. The digital banks are free or nearly free, and much cheaper abroad.
The most significant change in 2026: AIB scrapped quarterly and per-transaction charging on 1 July 2026 and replaced it with a flat €6 a month.
| Provider | Monthly fee | Euro ATM | Non-euro purchase | Non-euro ATM | IBAN | Deposits guaranteed by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIB | €6 | Included | 1.75% (min €0.45, max €11.00) | Charged | IE | Ireland |
| Bank of Ireland | €6 | Included | 2% (max €11.43) | 3.5% (min €3.17, max €11.43) | IE | Ireland |
| PTSB Explore | €8 (€24/quarter) | Included | 1.75% (min €0.46, max €11.43) | Charged | IE | Ireland |
| An Post Money | €6 (age 23+) | €0.60 each | 3%, no cap | €0.90 + 3% | IE | Ireland |
| Revolut Standard | €0 | €200 or 5 withdrawals free, then 2% (min €1) | Free to €1,000/month, then 1% | Same allowance | IE | Lithuania |
| N26 Standard | €0 (card €10 once) | 2 free, then €2 | Free, no limit | 1.7% markup | DE | Germany |
| bunq Free | €0 | €2.99 from the first | 0.5% to €1,000/year, then 1.5% | Same, plus 0.5% conversion | IE | Netherlands |
Every one of these also attracts 12c per ATM withdrawal in government stamp duty, capped at €5 a card per year.
AIB — €6 a month. From 1 July 2026 the €6 covers card transactions, taps, transfers and euro payments. Non-euro transactions, drafts, urgent transfers and overdrafts are extra. You pay nothing if you hold an Advantage account (over-66s), Student, Student Plus, Graduate, Standard Care or Basic Bank Account, or pay an AIB mortgage on your own home from the account. AIB says the change cuts fees for most fee-paying customers by around 12% on average.
Bank of Ireland — €6 a month. Covers euro card payments, euro ATM withdrawals and euro transfers up to €20,000 a day. Second and third level student, graduate and Golden Years (over-66) accounts are exempt. It is the most expensive bank for foreign cash: 3.5% on non-euro ATM withdrawals with a €3.17 minimum.
PTSB Explore — €8 a month. The highest headline fee, but the only one that pays you back: 5c every time you pay by card in-store or online, up to €5 a month, cutting the effective cost to €3 if you make 100 card payments. There is also 2% cashback on PTSB mortgage repayments paid by direct debit from the account, running to 31 December 2030.
An Post Money — €6 a month for age 23+, €2 for 16 to 22 year olds, €2 per child on Money Mate. The only account here that charges per euro ATM withdrawal — 60c a time — on top of the monthly fee, and at 3% with no cap the most expensive for foreign card spending of any provider in this comparison. It does give emergency cash of up to €200 from post offices and dynamic CVV protection online.
Revolut is the default for most people: an Irish IBAN, nothing to pay on Standard, and cheap abroad. Free currency exchange runs to €1,000 a month on Standard, then 1%, with a 1% weekend markup — and Revolut counts the weekend as 17:00 Friday to 18:00 Sunday New York time, so a Sunday evening in Dublin is still inside it. ATM access is €200 or 5 withdrawals a month, then 2%. Deposits sit under the Lithuanian guarantee scheme.
N26 is the cheapest card in Ireland for spending abroad — no foreign transaction fee on any plan, no weekend markup, no fair-usage ceiling. The catch is the German IBAN. EU rules say a euro payment should not be refused on the country code, but some Irish payroll and direct debit systems still make it awkward. Cash is restrictive too: two free euro withdrawals a month, then €2 each.
bunq gives Irish customers an Irish IBAN on every plan including the free one, and pays interest — 1.51% AER base and 3.01% AER bonus on euro balances as of 1 July 2026, up to €100,000. The free plan includes no physical card, so a card costs €9.99 plus €3.49 a month, and ATM withdrawals cost €2.99 from the first one. Deposits sit under the Dutch scheme.
For a €100 non-euro purchase:
| Provider | Cost |
|---|---|
| N26 (any plan) | €0.00 |
| Revolut Standard (within €1,000/month, weekday) | €0.00 |
| bunq Core, Pro, Elite | €0.50 |
| AIB | €1.75 |
| PTSB | €1.75 |
| Bank of Ireland | €2.00 |
| An Post Money | €3.00 |
The gap is real money on a two-week holiday: €2,000 of spending costs nothing on N26 and €60 on An Post.
Using a card also beats using an ATM abroad. Non-euro withdrawals carry their own charges on top — 3.5% at Bank of Ireland, 3% plus €0.90 at An Post — and the machine will usually offer to convert the currency at a worse rate. Always choose to be charged in the local currency, never in euro.
Ireland no longer charges an annual card levy. It charges 12c per ATM cash withdrawal instead, capped per card per year:
That last point is worth reading twice. Card payments, contactless taps and online purchases attract no stamp duty at all — only cash withdrawals do. Never take cash from a machine and you pay nothing.
The duty is charged in arrears. Revenue’s rule is that it goes on the account on 31 December for that year, and institutions bill it in January.
It applies to foreign issuers too. Revenue is explicit that the location of the bank is not relevant: a card issued by a foreign institution to someone with an address in the State comes within the charge. Revolut confirms it collects the levy. Exemptions cover cards not used during the year, basic payment accounts, accounts where the average daily balance does not exceed €12.70, and cards used only to request a chequebook, get statements or verify identity.
One account for everything: AIB or Bank of Ireland at €6 a month, or bunq if you want an Irish IBAN plus interest and are happy going digital-only.
You pay for everything by card: PTSB Explore — the 5c-per-payment cashback genuinely offsets most of the €8.
You travel: N26 for card spending, or Revolut if you also want an Irish IBAN and cash access.
You want to stop paying fees: run a Revolut or bunq account alongside your bank account and move day-to-day spending there. Mortgage direct debits, salary rules and cheque lodgements still tie most people to one bank account, but you can stop putting foreign spending through it.
For foreign spending, N26 — no transaction fee on any plan. For a free all-round account with an Irish IBAN, Revolut Standard. Among the banks, AIB and Bank of Ireland are level at €6 a month, and PTSB works out cheapest if you use the card constantly and collect the 5c cashback.
Only on ATM withdrawals — 12c each, capped at €5 a year for a combined ATM and debit card. Card payments, contactless and online purchases are not charged.
AIB and Bank of Ireland both charge €6 a month. Student, graduate and over-66 accounts are exempt at both, as are AIB accounts used to pay an AIB mortgage on your own home.
Revolut and bunq do. N26 does not — Irish customers get a German IBAN.
The cover is the same amount from a different country’s scheme: Lithuania’s for Revolut, Germany’s for N26, the Netherlands’ for bunq, all to €100,000. Irish banks sit under the Irish Deposit Guarantee Scheme.
No. Debit use is not credit and does not appear on the Central Credit Register, which only records credit agreements of €500 and above.