The Department of Finance has launched a public consultation that will feed into planned legislation on access to cash.

The process is seeking the views of the public on a future National Payments Strategy (NPS) for Ireland.

Minister for Finance Michael McGrath (pictured) said last month that work was “well underway” on legislation covering recommendations on cash made by a review of retail banking published late last year.

Financial exclusion

The minister said today (12 December) that, as the trend towards digitalisation continued, the Government had to ensure that people were not left behind, and avoid the risk of financial exclusion.

“We must recognise the important role that cash continues to play in our society and economy, and this is a role I am determined to protect,” he stated.

The consultation, which is inviting views from both the public and industry, is now open for submissions until 14 February 2024.

The department says that the responses will form “an important part” of the NPS, which is to be published in 2024. The last national policy in this area was set out in 2013.

Roadmap

The strategy will set out a roadmap for the future 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.

It will also examine whether further domestic measures, in addition to EU legislation, are needed to prevent fraud.

The NPS will also look at crypto-assets, instant payments, open banking, and what new data need to be collected on the payments landscape.

The strategy will consider how the criteria for reasonable access to cash (that will be set out in upcoming legislation) should evolve as cash usage changes in the future.

It will also examine whether legislation should be introduced to require certain sectors or sub-sectors to accept or facilitate cash payments, and if it should be policy to require the public service to accept or facilitate cash.