Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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51. To ask the Minister for Finance the percentage of transactions in retail outlets across the country in which persons pay with a debit or credit card; the arrangements in relation to the transaction fees that apply to the retailers facilitating such electronic transactions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42282/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Central Bank that it does not collect data on the percentage of transactions in retail outlets where individuals pay with a debit or credit card, or on the transaction fees that apply to retailers accepting electronic payment transactions.

In terms of fees paid by retailers, in order to be able to accept payment cards a retailer appoints an acquiring company and agrees a merchant service charge with that company. The amount of the merchant service charge varies, often depending on the volume of card transactions the retailer accepts.

Budget 2016 introduced measures to support retailers by reducing costs and incentivising electronic payments. Changes were made to the interchange fees faced by retailers accepting cards, including halving the interchange fees for domestic consumer debit cards to 10 basis points - one of the lowest rates in the EU. Those changes came into effect on 9 December 2015 and reduced the costs of accepting card payments, as interchange fees make up part of the merchant service charge collected by acquirers from retailers.

The Central Bank does provide other credit and debit card statistics, including the number of debit and credit cards currently in issue to Irish residents, and these are available on the website of the Central Bank. In addition, the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland produces a payments monitor which is available on its website.

Both of these sources of information evidence strong growth in the use electronic payments, particularly debit cards. The number of debit cards stood at 4,779,448 and the number of credit cards at 1,882,938 in August 2017. The latest Central Bank credit and debit card statistical release shows that debit card point-of-sale transactions, at €2.9 billion in June 2017, were 16 per cent higher than the same month in 2016 while credit card point of sale transactions were 5 per cent higher than in the same period in 2016.