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Irish Government action on SEPA
01 April 2009
In a circular dated 6th Feb, the Department of Finance spelled out it’s policy on electronic payments to be adopted by all public sector bodies in Ireland. While referring to it’s policy dated December ’04, it stated that “The policy and market context for electronic payments has developed significantly since the Government Decision referred to above. In particular, the commencement of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) from January 2008 is providing a framework for the development of an integrated, competitive market for payment services in Euro.”
All Government Departments and Offices are therefore requested to review their own payment arrangements and those of all bodies under their aegis and advise Finance at an early date regarding their usage of electronic transactions, and where such usage does not accord with current policy, they are required to submit plans to address any obstacles to early and full compliance.
“Departments and Offices should also report on how they and bodies under their aegis are taking steps to ensure migration to SEPA-compliant payment systems, in particular whether they have a migration plan in place.”
It should also be noted that in order to further promote the development of electronic payments in the economy, the Minister for Finance announced, in Budget 2009, the Government’s intention to establish a high-level group comprising representatives of the main stakeholders to direct the preparation and implementation of a National Payments Implementation Plan (NPIP) over a two year period. NPIP and SEPA are mutually supportive of each other.