Is cash still accepted in Ireland?
Yes, and the law now protects access to it. The Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Act took effect on 28 November 2025 and makes AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB responsible for keeping a minimum number of ATMs in every region. Still, cash fell below half of point-of-sale payments in 2024.
In detail
Yes, and the law now protects access to it. The Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Act took effect on 28 November 2025 and makes AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB responsible for keeping a minimum number of ATMs in every region. Still, cash fell below half of point-of-sale payments in 2024.
Payment by cash in Ireland
The Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Act took effect on 28 November 2025: it sets a minimum number of ATMs per 100,000 people in each region and makes AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB responsible for meeting it. The Central Bank's first check found just over 4,000 ATMs and 1,200 cash service points at the end of 2025, with six local shortfalls to fix. Cashback at the till and An Post counters fill the gaps. Online, cash on delivery is almost unknown in Ireland.
Payment by digital wallet and X-Pay in Ireland
The ECB's SPACE study counts Ireland among the three euro area countries where mobile devices exceed 10% of point-of-sale transactions. Most of those taps are tokenized Visa and Mastercard debit cards, which is what X-Pay means in Ireland.
More detail in our #PayWorldTour guide Payment methods in Ireland.