Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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211. To ask the Minister for Finance if consideration has been given to making it mandatory for retailers to accept card payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55569/21]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Retailers must consider a number of factors before choosing to accept any type of payment instrument. In the case of accepting card payments, one of the most relevant factors considered by a retailer are the fees that it must pay, of which consumers are generally unaware. One of the most common fees affecting merchant card acceptance across the EU is the interchange fee, i.e. the fee paid between the payer’s bank (the card issuer) and the payee’s bank (the bank used by the retailer) to cover handling costs etc.

The European Commission has acknowledged the negative impact that excessive interchange fees can have on merchant card acceptance. In an effort to address this issue (among others) in the market, the EU introduced Regulation (EU) 2015/751 on interchange fees for card-based payment transactions (the Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR)), which introduced interchange fee caps for both credit and debit card transactions.

In June 2020, the Commission published a report on the application of the IFR, in which it noted that the growth in domestic and cross-border card transactions is partly due to the implementation of the IFR, as they reflect higher acceptance of cards by merchants, driven in part by lower interchange fees.

This growth trend in card payments is reflected in the Irish market. As per the Central Bank of Ireland’s Payment Statistics, the value of card payments initiated at the physical point of sale (POS), i.e. in store, steadily grew from approximately €27bn in 2016 to approximately €40bn in 2019. The Central Bank of Ireland’s figures show a decrease in the value of card payments initiated at the physical POS during 2020 (to approximately €36bn), and a corresponding 26% increase in the number of remotely initiated (i.e. online) card payments. These trends are likely attributable to the restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The continued trend of increased card usage in Ireland, particularly at the physical POS, does not appear to be indicative of a widespread issue of non-acceptance of cards by retailers. However, we are aware that it is considered best practice across the retail sector to clearly display at the point of sale or the entrance to their establishment if they do not accept a particular form of payment.

In this regard, my Department has not considered any policy proposals to recommend making it mandatory for retailers to accept card payments to this date.