Mr. Liam McLoughlin:

Our expectation is that the reduction in the use of cheques will continue apace and that they will reduce to a very small number. I would not be very surprised if they were ultimately to disappear as it is a very costly form of payment. From a bank point of view, the cost of processing a cheque is 60 cent per transaction. There is also Government stamp duty, as well as a range of other charges that bring the cost up to approximately €1.50 or more for the customer for that piece of paper. The cost of a direct debit or digital transaction today is 10 cent. A contactless transaction - flashing the card - costs 1 cent. That is the differentiation. While I see the use of cheques continuing to decline and cheques ultimately disappearing, I do not see the same happening in the case of cash. While coin volumes will reduce, I do not think the use of cash will ever reduce. The Irish like a wad of cash in the back pocket and I think that is going to continue. Volumes will come down, but cash will not disappear and there are no plans for that to happen either.