Cash withdrawals continues to fall as the Government's access to cash legislation comes into effect
The Government’s access to cash legislation, initially brought forward in early 2024, went into full effect in November of last year.
The number of cash withdrawals from ATMs and cashback in shops declined by more than 7% during 2025, as the Government's access to cash legislation comes into effect, new data shows.
However, the number of contactless payments saw an increase during the year of 6.8% to 1.6bn, compared to 2024, with a total combined value of €30bn — an increase of 12.6%.
The figures, published in the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland’s (BPFI) Payments Monitor, show contactless payments accounted for 88.7% of all point-of-sale card payments in 2025, with 62.4% of all contactless payments made using mobile wallets such as Apple Pay or Google Pay, rather than cards.
The number of cash withdrawals declined by 7.1% year-on-year to 82.2m, with the combined value of those withdrawals falling by 4.2% to €12.2bn.
The Government’s access to cash legislation, initially brought forward in early 2024, went into full effect in November of last year.
The legislation sought to ensure effective access to cash in the State, while putting in place measures to manage future changes to the cash infrastructure and bring cash-in-transit providers and independent ATM deployers within the regulatory perimeter of the Central Bank of Ireland.
The legislation requires the finance minister, in consultation with the Central Bank, to prescribe the percentage of the population that must be within a specified distance of not less than 5km and not more than 10km of an ATM and cash service point.
The minister must also set the minimum number of ATMs per 100,000 people in each region.
Head of payments at the BPFI Gillian Byrne said the trend in cash withdrawals falling was “reflected across the country, with the value of cash withdrawn falling in every county except Donegal, where the value was unchanged”.
“The contrasting trends in contactless payments and cash withdrawals are also evident in the relative value of transactions. For every €1 in cash withdrawn in 2025, €2.46 was spent in contactless payments,” she said.
The BPFI added cards were replacing cash as a means of payment for in-person services such as eating out and drinking in bars and restaurants, personal care like hairdressers and beauty shops, as well as in medical care.
Card spending on in-person services increased from €7.4bn in 2023 to €8.9bn last year, accounting for 18.7% of all in-person card payments.
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