Gift cards for Irish shopping centres at risk after payments company closed

Muireann Duffy

Thousands are at risk of losing money on gift cards for Irish shopping centres after the company behind the vouchers had its licence revoked.

UAB PayrNet lost its licence due to suspicions of money laundering flagged by regulators in Lithuania.

The company provides gift vouchers for some shopping centres in Ireland, including the Square Tallaght and Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in Dublin, as well as the Whitewater Shopping Centre in Newbridge and Mahon Point in Cork.

Liffey Valley, the Whitewater and Mahon Point have each posted an identical statement on their respective websites, which reads: "Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are currently unable to sell or accept gift cards.

"This situation arises from UAB PayrNet, the payments firm responsible for managing the funds of gift cards, having their licence revoked."

Apologising for the inconvenience caused to customers, it added: "At this stage, the full implications and the timeline for a resolution are not completely clear.

"However, we are working closely with the gift card provider and exploring every possible avenue to rectify the situation as swiftly as possible."

"We will continue to keep our site management team informed and provide further updates as more information becomes available," the statement concluded.