Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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372. To ask the Minister for Finance the steps he is taking to address the larger transaction charges imposed on SMEs, especially in hospitality and retail, by the banking sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27736/23]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The merchant service charge is the fee charged by an acquirer to a retailer for processing card transactions. All acquirers in Ireland are independent commercial entities and the amount of the merchant service charge varies, often depending on the volume of card transactions the retailer accepts.

One aspect of the merchant service charge is the interchange fee which is charged by card issuing banks to retailers for accepting card payments. Since 2015, interchange fees on consumer debit and credit cards have been capped. Under the Interchange Fee Regulation Ireland set the maximum interchange fee at 0.1% of the value of transactions for domestic consumer debit cards and 0.3% of the value of transactions for consumer credit cards. However, the Interchange Fee Regulation does not cover commercial debit and credit cards.

While regulated entities must comply with the rules regarding interchange fees, the merchant service charge is a commercial decision for each service provider. Acquiring services is a competitive market and retailers in general, and smaller retailers in particular, could stand to benefit from lower rates by switching provider