FYI on Ireland ATMs

Sounds like you agreed to Dynamic Currency Conversion which allows the merchant, in this case ATM owner, to set their own rate.

Were you asked if you wanted to be charged in Dollars? Did the ATM or receipt show a dollar amount instead of Euro? If either of these occur, just say no because this allows the ATM operator to charge whatever they feel like.

If it was just an ATM fee, it would have not been a percentage but rather an exact amount around €5 and would have been stated on the receipt.

hmm, now I am confused, since I have never run into this. I am looking at both receipts, each one says "this currency conversion service is provided by the bank of xyz." I do remember something like 600 euros in the bottom left side of the screen and the American equivalent on the right side. I think we chose to be debited the $ amount.....oh geesh I think the light bulb just went off. We should have chose the euros and let our bank (which does not charge a fee) convert it???? You know what ?? in other countries we have just requested euros and been given euros. We have never had the option .
If this is the case I am very glad I posted and you set me straight. Thank you!

I think we chose to be debited the $ amount.....oh geesh I think the light bulb just went off. We should have chose the euros and let our bank (which does not charge a fee) convert it????

My sympathies. They phrase this so you think that is the correct way to do it. Always, always insist the amount debited is the amount you are getting out, in the same currency, and not a cent more.
You can also encounter the same when paying with a credit card. If it says €xxx on the bill, make sure that is what the credit card machine says, no mention of any other currency.
It is not just US-Americans, there are regular warnings in the British press about this for UK card holders, they "convert" to pounds. I have even heard of cases in the US where European tourists have their credit card charges are "converted for their convenience" to their home currency.

We experienced an issue using ATM's different than yours. We did not encounter this issue on previous trips to Ireland. In Ennis our debit cards (my daughter tried hers and so did I) were not processed. I can not remember what or if any information was given on the screen why we were denied, but a woman said that this particular ATM (bank) sometimes had issues. The machine was not out of funds because we witnessed others completing transactions. We even went into the bank, but were told they could not help us with the ATM. Went to another ATM and that one worked just fine.

In Dingle we attempted to use the ATM inside the SuperValu Grocery Store and were denied because we didn't have "360 degree" something or another as I can't remember the last part of the message. Several members of our tour group had successfully used this same machine earlier in the day.

Another helpful local directed us to the "blue gas station" near the round about. We were able to withdraw the funds we needed, no problem. I can not remember the names of the banks funding the ATMs which did nor did not process our transactions because even though we selected "receipt wanted" we ususally didn't get one!

To say this caused some anxiety would be true! Thankfully, this did not happened anywhere else on our travels and will not happen others.