Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Absolutely, there is an obligation on passengers to pay their fare. There are real benefits to card payments and a lot of customers have moved to them because of Covid. I use a lot of taxis myself and I am surprised that there are still a good number of drivers who do not accept cards. That must be restricting their customer base at this stage because it is so common now for people not to use cash in their day to day lives. Certainly, however, customers have to pay their fare and the outcome of the consultation process must reflect that. That said, we are right to move towards cards in every cab. It is what the customer wants and it can also provide a better payment system for the drivers as well but they do have to get paid.

See this speech in context