Millennials will pave the way for cashless payments in Ireland, with 60 to 70 per cent being cashless in the next five years, according to a recent study.
The study conducted by Martin Raymond of strategy firm The Future Laboratory in London found that cash payments will become the minority in Ireland in the coming years.
The rise in cashless payments across Ireland is said to be due to its rapidly expanding tech scene as well as its population demographic.
The report from this study estimates that 440 million people will use contactless across the world this year, creating a market that will be worth €120 million by 2022.
Cashless payments can be seen taking over in countries such as Sweden where 80 percent of transactions are done without cash but in Ireland this number is only about 25 percent.
Ireland’s population is one of the youngest in Europe. One third of the Irish population is under 25, according to Irish Demographics Profile 2018 by Index Mundi.
It is this population demographic that will push cashless payments into the majority in the coming years, according to Raymond.
For Irish students, paying by card or using other cashless methods is all about ease and accessibility.
“With tap technology cash has kind of become second to a lot of people… [Cashless] is just so easy to use and you don’t have to worry about scrambling for change” said Isabella Finn, a second year in DCU.
Simplicity is key for millennials, with apps such as Circle, friends can send and receive even the smallest amounts of money to each other at the touch of a button.
These apps are very appealing to the younger demographic, particularly students as it is an easy way to split bills and pay as a group.
According to Daniel Walsh, a second year BCL student in DCU, relying on ATMs to access money is not realistic for students and their everyday lives.
Walsh says that he prefers to pay with card rather than taking money from an ATM because “you can only take out big sums of money and it makes me feel like my money is rapidly running out.”
Legitimate concerns are being raised about the level of data protection with all these online payments but Raymond claims that the younger generations will be willing to give up privacy,as long as they receive benefits in return.
Aoibhin Meghen
Image credit: Aoibhinn Bryant