Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. It is very comprehensive except to the extent that it does not specify what the Government's view is on what is happening. It is quite clear that non-acceptance of cash should only be in exceptional circumstances if the retailer has no change available. It cannot be the case that one could be in compliance with the recommendation if one never has any change available. The Minister of State has rightly set out the contractual position but the question is: ought it to be the law that businesses should always be ready to accept cash and only in exceptional circumstances where they have no change should they be allowed to refuse it?

I have a certain suspicion that it suits the Government to allow people to be gently pushed towards payment by card. It reduces the potential for the black economy and the under-reporting of transactions. Certainly, the increase in card payments is surely linked to the very impressive VAT returns for 2021, which exceed the VAT returns for 2019, which is incredible when we consider large sections of the economy were shut or restricted during 2021. However, we should not use the behaviour of a small section of society who engage in the black economy to penalise law-abiding consumers who wish to use cash, particularly vulnerable customers. If we keep the focus on the customer, particularly the vulnerable, should the Government not move to legislate in this area to create a requirement that in all but exceptional, undesired and accidental circumstances, cash would have to be accepted?