Cash will continue to remain key in future, says Minister for Finance

While cash may no longer be king it will have to remain central to commerce in Ireland to stop people being excluded from economic activity and civic society, Minister for Finance Michael McGrath has stressed.

Speaking at the launch of a public consultation on the future of money to be carried out under the umbrella of the National Payments Strategy (NPS) the Minister highlighted the need for the public to be protected against fraud and criminals operating in the virtual world.

“Ensuring Ireland has an accessible and innovative payment system is vital for our society and economy,” Mr McGrath noted as a public consultation period opened. “All citizens should be able to participate fully in all aspects of modern life using digital or cash methods of payment. While technology can enable vulnerable groups partake in society in new ways, it should not exclude them.”

He expressed the view that “choice should be at the centre of our future payments strategy but noted that as digitalisation gathers pace “we have to ensure that people are not left behind and we must avoid the risk of financial exclusion”.

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He highlighted the “important role that cash continues to play in our society and economy, and this is a role I am determined to protect”.

The future strategy will set out a roadmap for the evolution of the entire payments system, taking account of developments in digital payments, cash usage and how future changes should be made to the legislative criteria relating to access to cash.

A key element of the work will be to examine and analyse fraud, which is a critical issue and something that was not considered at the time of the development of the current payment strategy a decade ago.

While much of this area is governed by European Union legislation, it is important that the NPS examines and analyses payment fraud to see if further domestic measures can be identified to prevent fraud, the Minister said.

Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) welcomed the public consultation and noted that since the national payments plan was established more than 10 years ago “the payments landscape in Ireland, as well as globally, has changed significantly with rapidly evolving developments across digital payments, instant payments, payments fraud, data collection and sharing and open banking as well use of and access to cash”.

“BPFI and our members look forward to engaging in the NPS consultation process with the Department of Finance to ensure that consumer choice and confidence remain at the centre of the evolution of payments in the years ahead,” BPFI chief executive Brian Hayes said.

The public consultation will remain open for submissions until February 14th next year.

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