{"id":166029,"date":"2025-11-29T13:21:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T13:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/166029\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T13:21:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T13:21:11","slug":"ireland-may-not-be-ready-to-go-fully-cashless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/166029\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland may not be ready to go fully cashless"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In recent years, Ireland seemed destined for a cashless future with card-only caf\u00e9s, a lack of ATMs and rural areas losing their bank branches. But are we changing direction?<\/p>\n<p>The Government has introduced new rules ensuring access to cash, with legislation introduced requiring ATMs to be located within 10km of the vast majority of homes and businesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goloudplayer.com\/podcasts\/newstalk-daily-1160\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Newstalk Daily\u2019s<\/a> latest podcast, Tara Duggan, proudly calling herself a \u201cCash queen\u201d explored whether Ireland is turning away from a fully cashless society.<\/p>\n<p>Newstalks political correspondent Sean Defoe, who admitted that he \u201cnever carries cash,\u201d said he struggled to remember the last time he used it in everyday life, except in the odd car park.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cI had avoided using Apple Pay for years, but now I\u2019m one of those annoying people that use their phone to pay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite this digital shift, research from the Department of Finance in 2024 found that 92% of survey participants still use cash, proving cash is still thriving within Irish society.<\/p>\n<p>However, Defoe remarked that with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, people were increasingly using digital payments.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;[With] the pandemic, you can understand why people moved away from cash, for hygiene reasons.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Not only that, but ATMs were avoided and contactless became the height of convenience.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1787571\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/PKDCCY.jpg\" alt=\"PKDCCY Counting cash-euro banknotes-fifty euros banknotes\" width=\"803\" height=\"535\"\/> PKDCCY Counting cash-euro banknotes-fifty euros banknotes<\/p>\n<p>Banking expert John Lowe believes this is the way forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am in favour of a cashless society, it suits me,&#8221; he claimed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t remember the last time I used an actual credit card,\u2019 as he stated his full dependence on Apple Pay.<\/p>\n<p>However, Lowe remarked that other individuals and groups would struggle without the use of physical cash. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There would be worries for older people,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Who Wins in a Cashless World?<\/p>\n<p>Author of &#8216;Cloudmoney&#8217; and financial critic Brett Scott argues that there\u2019s more to the story:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe banking sector and the tech sector are the primary beneficiaries,&#8221; he stated.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What people want in a society is a choice, but the industries want to get rid of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He warned listeners that digital dependency is fragile, and will not always be reliable:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s stupid to be completely dependent on digital infrastructures, simple hacking attacks can take down your entire economy,\u201d said the author.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In the geopolitical tensions, climate change and resource shortages, all digital hype is based on the unrealistic assumption that there can be this endless digitalisation, which from a resource perspective and a geopolitical perspective is totally unrealistic.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou want to think about cash being the emergency stairs in a skyscraper. You may find the elevator convenient, but it doesn\u2019t mean you take away the stairs, \u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Written by Annemarie Roberts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In recent years, Ireland seemed destined for a cashless future with card-only caf\u00e9s, a lack of ATMs and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,113,61,60],"class_list":["post-166029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}