Ireland Passes Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure Bill

2024 European Central Bank (ECB) survey data found that about half of point- of-sale payments in Ireland were made using cash. The Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Bill has now been passed in Ireland to ‘provide for the continued provision of sufficient and effective access to cash infrastructure’. The new Act makes legal provision for the availability, operation, regulation and accessibility of ATM services and cash service points.

Cash acceptance is seen as a separate matter and referred to in the National Payments Strategy 2024 as being of ‘strategic importance’. All government departments and agencies must ensure they accept cash payments or facilitate cash payments by a third party before the end of Q2 2025.

The origin of the new Act was to protect the economically and socially vulnerable. However, the threat of power outages, cybersecurity attacks and geopolitical uncertainty severely impairing the electronic payments system means cash may be the preferred, or even the only, method of payment available.