The Deputy will aware that card payments, and in particular contactless payments, are being promoted in order to support public health policy at this time.
Fees for the acceptance of card transactions are charged to retailers by their acquirer, who manages the account and relationship between a retailer and the various card schemes. All acquirers in Ireland are independent commercial entities and I have no statutory role in relation to the charges applied by acquirers.
Acquiring is a competitive market and retailers could stand to benefit from shopping around for lower rates from acquirers for accepting card payments.