Minister Chambers launches National Payments Strategy

Minister for Finance, Jack Chambers, launched the National Payments Strategy for Ireland which considers issues including the continuing role of cash in society, payment fraud, and the future of payments. The full report is accessible on the Department of Finance’s website ( National Payment Strategy ).

Launching the Strategy, the Minister said:

“The Irish payments landscape is very different today than 10 years when the previous iteration of this Strategy was put in place. Consumers are increasingly turning to digital means of payment, be they card payments, or tapping to pay at retail outlets with smartphones or watches. There has also been much discussion around the decline in the use of cash for day-to-day payments and the need to protect this form of payment which remains the preferred form of payment for so many in our society, including older people.

To ensure the Irish economy benefits from the advantages of emerging technologies and payment methods, while also taking into account the need to ensure the continued availability of more traditional forms of payments, this Strategy sets out a vision for the future of payments in Ireland"

Crucially the strategy makes it a requirement for all public services provided by Government Departments and their agencies to be available through cashFour vision statements drive the Strategy and achieving them will move us to a payments ecosystem in 2030 that is more resilient and has additional payment options. These statements are:

Consumers in Ireland will be able to make use of the most modern features and functionality available for payments, while retaining options for those who prefer more traditional means of payment.
The Irish payments ecosystem will evolve, as a result of proactive participation by market players, so that the Irish payments system will keep pace with the European payments market and offer a similar experience to Irish consumers.
Irish consumers will have the utmost trust in the reliability of their payment methods, and will freely adopt new payment methods without fear of being defrauded.
By 2030, there will be greater transparency and understanding of the Irish payments landscape with insights into the trends and use of payments types.

The Strategy sets out a number of actions to realise this vision for the Irish payments system.

It is important to ensure the continued use of cash across the economy and this is addressed in the cash acceptance piece. It is now government policy for all government departments and bodies under their aegis to accept electronic payments and cash payments (or facilitate cash payments) where a public body levies fines or fees or where it provides goods or services for a charge. Bearing in mind developments at EU level, and cognisant of the fact that it is not within a Member States power to legislate for the acceptance of cash, the focus in the Strategy on general cash acceptance is to inform all sectors of the economy, and specifically retailers and SMEs of these new EU rules on cash acceptance, should the EU legislation on legal tender be agreed.

This Strategy recommends that all government departments and agencies will engage with those under their remit, including those organisations that receive funding, about their future obligations arising from the EU legislation, and encourage such organisations to commence their work in this area as soon as practicable, and in advance of the legal requirements of the Regulation.

It was clear from stakeholder engagement that ‘access and choice’ is very important to the Irish people. Fraud also emerged as a significant concern amongst stakeholders.

There are a number of measures to address fraud, which has become an increasing concern for citizens, and these include the following:

The establishment of a cross sectoral anti-fraud forum consisting of online platforms, telecommunications firms and financial service providers to ensure the to combat fraudsters. This is the first time we will have all of the major players in the fraud payment cycle working together.
The Banking Payments Federation of Ireland have agreed to apply to be certified by the Coimisiún na Meán as a ‘trusted flagger”, if they are certified, they will have a privileged status for reporting illegal content such as false advertisements to online platforms.
All public bodies have been asked to put inbound only phone numbers on the ‘do not originate list’ held by the Commission for Communications Regulation, this will mean inbound only numbers (such as helplines) can’t be hijacked by fraudsters to deceive consumers.
The commitment by Department of Justice to prepare legislation on the shared fraud database, this has been an ask of the industry for some years now.

These measures taken together, will ensure that the major players are empowered with information to tackle the fraudsters, and will feed into a payment system that can be trusted.

In the digital payments space, the establishment of an Account-to-Account Working Group to support a ‘pay by account’ solution as a convenient and trusted alternative to cards and cash is recommended.

To enhance the focus on resilience and contingency preparedness in the payments sector, that is to say, to ensure payment firms leaving the market do so in an orderly manner, the Department, following input from the Central Bank, will examine the need to provide the Central Bank with liquidation powers in relation to payment firms and report to the Minister for Finance with recommendations, by the end of June 2025.

There are a number of other areas that are included in the Strategy, which look at the future of payments in Ireland, and what data is needed to support policy decisions in that space. In this respect, the Central Bank will lead on a research and insights programme, for example by establishing a recurring ‘consumer payment preferences and behavioural’ survey covering all payment types. This will mean that actors within the payments system will be more aware of why certain payment instruments

Background:

As set out in the terms of reference, the goal of this Strategy is to ‘enhance and build public trust in and the effectiveness of the payments system’, based on the following four interlocking principles:

Access and Choice – promoting reasonable options for consumers and small businesses;
Security and Resilience – of the payments system and system operators;
Innovation and Inclusion – future focus that enhances interoperability and inclusion; and
Sustainability and Efficiency – solutions that have regard to cost/benefit and the environment.

The Department established a dedicated team to develop this Strategy. This team engaged with the key stakeholders in the public and private sectors to ensure the Strategy incorporates input from across society on the areas covered by the terms of reference, especially the four principles driving this work. In addition, the team sought the views and perspectives from the wider public, both business and consumers, from across all parts of society and the economy. The work conducted by the team included:

1. Targeted engagement – In preparing a public consultation document, the team sought input and data from key stakeholders.

2. Public consultation – The team drafted a public consultation paper seeking the views of interested parties. This was hosted online and was open for over nine weeks.

3. Stakeholder engagement – The team preparing the Strategy engaged with many stakeholders involved in payments in order to raise awareness the public consultation and encourage submissions. These engagements also provided greater granularity and understanding of the lived experiences with the payments system of different groups, which critically assisted the work of the team.

4. Public summary of consultation – The team published a summary document which aggregated the comments received via the public consultation. The document was published on the Department’s website.

5. Stakeholder workshop – The team held a workshop to which those organisations and firms that either participated in the public consultation or met with the NPS team were invited. The workshop presented the findings of the public consultation and sought input on potential recommendations.

The Department of Finance published a summary of submissions received to the consultation process ( National Payments Strategy - Public Consultation Summary of Submissions ), The Department has also published submissions received as part of the consultation process, available here ( National Payment Strategy - Public Consultation Submissions ).