European Payment Cards Yearbook

Ireland - Summary

	Price: £50.00
Market Overview
Payment Organizations	IPSO; Laser Card Services.

Domestic Card Brand	Laser debit cards, co-badged Maestro for international use.

Market Structure	Historically a credit card market. Debit card POS use has grown through the domestic Laser scheme. Though an open market, card issuance and acquiring is dominated by the two large Irish banking groups, AIB and Bank of Ireland. Stamp duty on debit and credit cards has held back development of the market. The Irish are among the heaviest users of cash and cheques in Europe.

Major Issuers	Allied Irish Bank (AIB), Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank.

Major Acquirers	AIB Merchant Services, Elavon and Ulster Bank.

Key Statistics 2010
Population	4.476 million
Cards	Debit: 3.4 million (2.6 million Laser cards) Credit: 2.2 million Total: 5.6 million