Card-only policies discriminate against pensioners using cash, MEP claims

An Irish MEP has said she will amendments to new EU laws that would stop businesses from refusing cash from customers.

Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, the Fianna Fáil MEP for Ireland South, said the amendments to the new EU Regulation on the Legal Tender of Euro Banknotes and Coins would ensure people have a right to use cash in their everyday lives.

Ms Ní Mhurchú described cash as an important driver of economic growth for rural Ireland and said older people in particular prefer to draw their pension in cash and spend it accordingly.

“Many pensioners I have spoken to across rural Ireland draw down their pension once a week and having that cash in front of them helps them to budget their spending for the week,” she said in a press release.

“Card payments are very convenient and should remain a large part of our economy but we cannot replace cash payments completely. This is about giving consumers a choice.”

In June 2023, the European Commission brought proposals to the European Parliament to safeguard the role of cash in the EU, saying it must be accepted as a means of payment everywhere in the EU.

That proposal would bring legislative effect to a 2021 judgment by the European Court of Justice which ruled that cash must be accepted as a means of payment, with limited exceptions.