John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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337. To ask the Minister for Finance if all Government Departments and agencies that make payments to individuals and businesses that are account holders with banks or credit unions do so using the BIC and IBAN numbers only; if there is any exception to this normal practice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51968/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The specific payment policies of individual Government Departments or Agencies are a matter for each department / agency. I can however make some general observations in relation to the making of payments to individuals and businesses by Government Departments and Agencies.

The National Payments Plan (NPP) was launched in April 2013, with the aim of reducing the cost of Ireland's payment system through the use of more efficient payment methods. In line with this goal the NPP prescribed an ‘e-day’ to take place on September 19th, 2014. From this point forward Government Departments, Agencies, and Local Authorities ceased making payments via cheque to businesses and moved to making payments via electronic fund transfer (EFT) which are payments made directly to a bank account through BIC and IBAN.

E-day did not apply to cheque payments made to individuals by Government Departments, Agencies, and Local Authorities. How a Department, Agency, or Local Authority chooses to make payments to individuals differs from entity to entity.

Most public sector entities opt to process payments to individuals via EFT. For example, the Department of Social Protection primarily makes payments to individuals receiving payment from a social welfare scheme via EFT, but they also offer payment via Electronic Information Transfer (EIT) which involves the individual going to their local Post Office to collect their payment, payment via cheque is only used in exceptional circumstances or to pay for arrears.