New legislation which gives people extra protection when buying or using gift vouchers has been signed into law.
President Michael D Higgins has signed the Consumer Protection (Gift Vouchers) Bill 2018.
It'll see gift vouchers have an expiry date of at least five years from the date of contract.
Where a gift voucher doesn't include an expiry, a term of five years would automatically be applied.
While users of gift vouchers will not be required to spend the full value of the voucher in a single transaction.
And a gift voucher will not contain a term that places a limit on the number of gift vouchers a person is allowed to redeem in a single transaction.
However a number of changes were not included on advice of Office of the Attorney General.
This includes the charge of so-called maintenance fees for cards that aren't used.
