Eoghan Murphy
Question:303. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider implementing a digital certificate authority for cash transactions involving State bodies (details supplied). [30572/15]
View answerTuesday, 22 September 2015
Questions (303)
Written answers
The development of the digital economy is a key plank of Ireland's economic development strategy. The Government keeps under review various initiatives, which could help Ireland reap the full rewards of a digitally enabled society. There continues to be significant growth of the digital economy in Ireland, including in payments, for example there has been a 26% increase in active users of online banking from 2012 and 2014. The use of card payments is also increasing with debit card usage tripling over the last eight years.
In forming policy in this area, including considering the implementation of a digital certification authority for cash transactions involving State bodies, the Government has to be cognisant of the changed technological and regulatory environment in which payments operate. While historically European payments were segmented into individual national payment systems, since 2014 we have become integrated in the Single Euro Payments Area. Developing national solutions in isolation is now neither always optimal nor, indeed, feasible. As such the work of the European Retail Payments Board in this area is monitored, this currently includes recommendations on technical standards related to payment cards to tackle fraud, as well as the investigation electronic invoicing solutions related to retail payments. My Department will monitor this work with a view to identifying those technologies and opportunities which can help promote the development of the digital economy in Ireland.
Question No. 304 answered with Question No. 300.