Stewart MacKinnon, the chief executive of the Irish Payment Services Organisation (IPSO), said Irish businesses and consumers should switch to electronic methods for all major payments, once the Single European Payments Area (SEPA) project is complete.
The SEPA will harmonise national direct debit and electronic payments systems, increasing their use, but there will be no place in the new framework for cheques to be processed on a pan-European basis, concurrently decreasing their use. Some EU countries, such as Belgium, have eliminated cheques already.
It is understood that Bank of Ireland’s internal plans accord with the IPSO timeframe as they will stop issuing personal chequebooks by 2010.
Admirers of the negoitable instrument will still enjoy the use of the Postal Order as An Post seeks to fill the gap created by the banks pull out.
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