The value of goods purchased using contactless payments increased by almost a third last year as the shift to cashless collection accelerated.
In total, almost 17.9 billion euros were spent using contactless methods in the year, up 31.4% compared to 2021, reports RTE.
The average price paid also rose to €20.91 in 2022, compared to €19.58 a year ago.
In the last three months of the year, an average of 53 million euro was spent a day without using cash, through 3 million contactless payments.
According to the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland’s (BPFI) Payments Monitor, this represents the highest daily contactless spend in any quarter since it started tracking it in 2016.
The data also shows that the volume of contactless payments made each year has more than doubled in the past four years to 1.1 billion.
Speaking to Morning Ireland, Ms Byrne said that despite the rise of digital payments, there was still a need for cash services in the country.
“Consumers certainly like choice, there are a lot of consumers who rely on cash in society. But most certainly the preference for digital payments remains,” she said, reports RTE.
When it comes to keeping your data safe, Ms Byrne said contactless payments are more secure than other forms of digital payment.
“Because you’re not exposing your pin or inputting your details with contactless payments, they would be considered more secure,” she said, reports RTE.
Ms Byrne said using checks as a payment method was steadily declining in popularity.
“Last year we saw the lowest two quarters ever in terms of volumes of cheques, with 4.5 million cheques sent in both of those quarters. “Most certainly consumers and businesses are moving to more efficient payment types,” she said, reports RTE.
Ms Byrne said BPFI expects check volumes to decline going forward.
When it comes to contactless and digital payments, Ms Byrne said Ireland has one of the fastest adoption rates in Europe.
Today’s data was released ahead of the BPFI’s first national payments conference which is taking place in Dublin and which will be attended by European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness, reports RTE.
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