€1m wasted on State credit cards

Ministers are wasting €1m per year on “exorbitant” debit and credit card transaction fees, it has emerged.

Departments within the Government have no limit for such commission fees, allowing card merchants to charge between 0.75% to 2.79% on transactions paid by the public for duties, services, and levies.

An urgent review of the situation has been called for by the chairman of the Dáil’s influential finance committee, Ciarán Lynch, who fears a loophole is allowing taxpayers’ money to be wasted. He said up to €1m could be savedby “imposing a uniform merchants’ fee across all areas of Government”.