Ireland increasingly positive on cash-free future

Over the last two decades, European transactions have increasingly moved toward digital payments – with Ireland among the countries keenest to take them up. But even as card-payments become more pervasive, the majority of consumers doubt a cashless society will ever fully come to fruition, according to survey from BearingPoint.

The latest European Payment Study by management and technology consultancy BearingPoint reveals significant shifts in payment behaviour across nine European countries. While German-speaking countries remain most resistant to the changes, the use of cash is declining in Europe.

On average, 70% of shoppers on the continent regularly use contactless card payments, while just over 50% use cash. Of the nations examined, Finland is by far the most digital-positive market, with around nine-in-ten consumers using contactless payments – and fewer than half using cash on a frequent basis.

Irish consumers are moving in a similar direction, too. Of those polled, seven-in-ten said they used contactless card payments regularly. Meanwhile, the use of cash was just over 40% - moving Ireland ahead of France, Austria, Switzerland and Germany in terms of its digital payment usage.

Looking ahead, Irish customers were keenest to shift further away from cash, too. While an average of one-third of all respondents said they would pay more with card in the coming period, that rose to just under 40% in Ireland. And the same number their said they would use mobile payment services more frequently – ahead of the European average of just under 30%.

This places Ireland out of step with the rest of the continent, when it comes to attitudes toward a cashless society, too. The Republic is increasingly positive about the prospect – and while a majority of shoppers there were against it in 2023, in 2024, 49% said they would be for it, compared to 45% against.

This is not an attitude shared by many other Europeans, however. On average, 59% of shoppers would still rather not see a cashless society ushered in, while 36% would prefer it. Those figures have not shifted much in the last year – the number of those who would be against it only falling by 1%.

Leading those sentiments again were the German-speaking nations. In Austria, only 28% said they would favour a cashless society – though that is a notable rise from 19% previously – while Switzerland on 36% and Germany on 33% also remained low. But even as Finland led the way in terms of card usage, the socially conscious Nordic nation also said it would prefer not to go cashless at a margin of 58:36. Meanwhile, even though Sweden became the world's first cashless society in March 2023, 57% of consumers there also said they did not favour the move.

The downsides of going cashless include less privacy, greater exposure to hacking, technological dependency, and magnifying economic inequality. While it might be a faster means of doing business, going totally cash-free risks excluding older people in particular, who struggle to pay bills digitally. At the same time, homeless people, and others living on a very low income, face difficulties when it comes to receiving help from others.