A number of Catholic churches in Dublin are trialing contactless payments for donations.

It comes as churches in the capital continue to face declining financial contributions from the traditional collections.

Officials say there's a number of reasons behind the decline, including falling number of people attending weekly mass.

In a bid to help address the situation, they're looking at new payment options for those who continue to attend.

According to the Church, direct debit payments have already been in place for some time.

However, they're now also experimenting with tap-and-go payments.

Contactless plans

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Dublin said: "Currently, we are piloting a new payment method, in a small number of Churches, with card machines in place at the back of the Church to allow parishioners to make a contactless contribution. This is done by a standalone machine.

"Later this year we plan to roll out the ability for the majority of parishes to accept card-based payments using a Parish Payments System.

"This will cover many transactions such as offerings, pilgrimage payments and will enable parishioners to sign up for recurring contributions."

However, they stress that the new technology will not replace the traditional collection baskets.

The familiar collection plates will "remain in place for the forseeable future".

The Archdiocese of Dublin joins a number of other religious organisations around the world who've already gone contactless.

The Church of England announced their cashless initiative last year, saying they wanted to make transactions "faster and easier for the Church's congregations".