Section 123B of the Principal Act is amended -

(a) in subsection (1) by inserting the following definition before the definition of "bank":

"'account holder' means the person authorised to charge amounts to a card account;",

(b) in subsection (1) by inserting the following definition after the definition of "bank":

"'basic payment account' means a card account that meets the following conditions -

(a) in the 3 years immediately preceding the opening of the card account, the account holder -

(i) did not have access to a card account, or

(ii) did have access to a card account (in this subparagraph referred to as the 'old account') but no amounts were charged to the old account in that period, the old account was closed at the time the card account was opened and any balance of funds was transferred to the card account,

(b) all amounts payable to the account holder under the Social Welfare Acts are paid into the card account, and

(c) in respect of 2 consecutive periods of 3 months ending on 31 March, 30 June, 30 September or 31 December, all amounts paid into the card account, other than those referred to in paragraph (b), do not exceed €2,000 in a period of 3 months;",

and