The Irish cards and payments industry is still developing with strong implication of the government institutions that encourage debit card use at POS terminals. The market is witnessing new entrants that focus on low-cost solutions; expecting to encourage merchants to accept card-based payments; drive payment card transaction volumes and values.
Among key trends, one can observe that, the Irish government
abolished stamp duty on debit card transactions, to reduce cash withdrawals at
ATMs using debit cards. There are no charges for debit card transactions at POS
terminals.
According to Research and Markets, to encourage contactless transactions, the
Irish government increased the contactless payment limit from US$16.7 (EUR15)
to US$33.3 (EUR30) from October 31, 2015. Banks are also taking steps to
encourage contactless transactions.
The growing payment cards market has encouraged several mobile POS (mPOS)
solution providers including UK-based online solution provider Payleven (now
SumUp), Paysafe, to enter the Irish market.