FG seeks legal advice on card fees

FINE GAEL is to seek legal advice from the European Commission after the Government claimed EU rules outlawed a ban on credit card surcharges.

Consumers have to pay as much as €22.49 in surcharges for the privilege of paying by credit card for purchases like their holidays, according to a survey.

On Wednesday Enterprise Minister Micheál

Martin told the Dáil he could not outlaw the surcharges as any ban would contravene European law.

He had planned to bring in a ban under the 2007 Consumer Protection Act but dropped the idea after Attorney General Paul

Gallagher said such a curb would breach EU law.

Yesterday, FG enterprise spokesman Leo Varadkar said the minister should find another way of banning the fees.

“There are many cases where the Fianna Fáil Government has come to one decision about EU law but the EU Commission has another view,” he said.

“At a time when Ireland is supposed to be encouraging greater use of electronic payments it makes no sense to allow companies to impose unfair and unjust surcharges on credit card payments.”

Now the party’s Dublin MEP, Gay Mitchell, will seek advice from the commission about a possible surcharge ban.

FG research shows consumers can pay as much as €22.49 in credit card surcharges if they use their plastic to book a holiday.

An Irish company selling caravan holidays in France levied a 2% card fee on the cost of a €1,124.11 holiday, bumping up the cost to €1,146.60.

Aer Lingus and Ryanair impose a €6 and €4 fee, respectively, per passenger per flight, even when the booking is made and paid for in a single transaction. Aer Lingus charges a lower €2 fee for debit cards like Laser while Ryanair charge €1.50 for cards like Visa Debit.

Consumers buying concert tickets online can also end up paying credit card fees which add substantially to the advertised price.