There was an 'extraordinary' jump in contactless payments in December and throughout 2020 - but the banking industry says cash will never fully go away.
Over €1 billion worth of contactless transactions were recorded in Ireland in December, the first time that monthly figure has been reached.
Figures from the Banking & Payments Federation (BPFI) show there were nearly 2.1 million transactions per day in the lead-up to Christmas.
The average value of a payment also increased to €17.36.
Brian Hayes, the Chief Executive of BPFI, told Newstalk Breakfast last month's figures are part of a trend.
He said: “I don’t think you’ll ever really see the end of cash - cash is still fundamental to people’s spending habits across the economy.
“But the move towards contactless was just accelerated last year. The figures we produce [monthly]… show the kind of numbers in December were just extraordinary.
“You can say 2020 was the year of contactless. The number of taps and the value of those taps was up in volume terms around 25% and value terms over 66%. In December, €1 billion worth of contactless took place.”
Mr Hayes said people’s habits are changing, and that process has been sped up by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said the numbers in October and November were ‘considerably less’ due to lockdown, but it’s ‘inevitable’ numbers will balloon once businesses can reopen again.
He observed: “I think [hygiene] has been a driver, and the jury is out on the question on whether or not there’s any transmissibility through bank notes.
"Inevitably, people want what they see to be the most efficient or cleanest way of conducting their business.”
He also said the increase of the contactless limit from €30 to €50 at the start of the pandemic saw ‘exponential’ growth in use of 'tap and go' payments.
He noted that change took ‘effectively a week’ to do due to the urgency of the situation, whereas it would usually take months to come into effect.
However, he cautioned it is important to keep a close eye on increased limits, as fraud does happen when it comes to debit and credit cards.
He said: “As you increase the limits, there is a balance to be struck between the fraudsters and their capacity to swoop and take people’s money.”
