Feargal Quinn (Independent)

Last week the European Court of Justice ruled on MasterCard's multilateral interchange fee. This is quite an important decision but has not received much attention. It applies only to cross-border transactions but its effect startled me. It will mean a reduction in costs to European consumers - solely for cross-border transactions - of €25 billion per year. The court ruled the multilateral interchange fee is unfair to consumers and retailers and consumers receive no benefit for the charge. The court ruled it should also be reduced and removed internally in each of the European countries. Will the Leader draw the attention of the Minister for Finance and the Competition Authority to undertake this? It has huge implications. The multilateral interchange fee is also charged by Visa but the case heard last week was against MasterCard. The UK and other countries have stated the ruling should also apply domestically in each member state. I urge that we do this.

The constitutional convention will be convened and we should have time to debate it in the House rather than wait for it to be debated outside the House. It is exactly the type of topic we should discuss.