Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Higher Education Institutions are autonomous bodies and are responsible for their own day-to-day management and operational affairs, including the management of commercial arrangements and provision of services for students on campus. As such, they retain the right to determine their own policies and procedures.

It should be noted that the regulation of commercial affairs and legislative governance of financial transactions is a matter for the Department of Finance and the Central Bank.

As such, it is worth pointing out that in November last year the then Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD, published the Retail Banking Review which set out a number of recommendations for Government, the Central Bank and industry. One recommendation was that the Department of Finance should lead on the preparation of a new National Payments Strategy.

The since published terms of reference for the strategy recommend the development of a roadmap for the future evolution of the entire payments system, taking account of developments in digital payments, cash usage and how future changes should be made to the legislative criteria relating to Access to Cash.

While Minister Donohoe has stated in the Dáil that is still permissible (eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32010H0191&qid=1604311928631) for businesses and other service providers not to accept cash (as long as the customer is notified in advance), it is worth noting that an objective of the new Strategy as set out in the terms of reference will be to consider and consult on whether to legislate to give the Minister for Finance the power to require certain classes of firms, sectors or sub-sectors to accept or facilitate the acceptance of cash.

It is expected that this new strategy will be published in 2024.