Cheques & Drafts

Cheques are not affected directly by SEPA.  In effect, the EU has taken the view that cheques are obsolete payment methods, and will be withdrawn progressively over time.  However, in Ireland, the National Payments Implementation Plan, which will run in parallel with SEPA has the declared intention to reduce the usage of cheques by changing customer behavior.  The increases in the stamp duty on cheques in the Budgets of 2008 and 2009 indicate that the Government is fully behind the NPIP initiative.