Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an ngrúpa the Rural Independents as ucht dul i ngleic leis an ábhar seo. This is an important motion. It speaks to the retention of choice and freedom and the dangers in the removal of choice and freedom in how citizens conduct their daily lives and how they transact in their daily lives. As we know, there is a strong move to digitisation happening globally and the environment is changing to favour digital transactions. However, a significant number of people find themselves less and less in favour of digitisation, especially as they age. That will continue to be the case as people age. Those who grew up using cash always felt they knew the value of something because they had to hand over what was in their pockets in order to pay for it.

As Deputy Lowry said, people are tapping their way around society oblivious to what they are paying for something. It is such a simple thing to do to take out a card and swipe it. If people had to take out their hard-earned payment at the end of the week and transact with it, it would be a good discipline for them in terms of budgeting.

We have seen very strong resistance from consumer banks to halting the move to a cashless society for very obvious reasons. There are very good efficiencies to be gained. There is an exceptional ability to track and mine data. They would also get to reduce their costs in terms of their overheads. Why would they need a plethora of retail banking locations throughout the country when it could all be done online? From the point of view of banks and financial institutions there are very good reasons for them to promote continuing to adopt a cashless society.

The question must be asked as to who in our society uses cash and why. Largely it is the elderly in particular and people who want to have discretion about what they purchase. Sometimes people may not want other people or agencies or regulatory bodies to know what they are purchasing. Cash allows this. It is a very important freedom and choice that we have in this country that must be retained. Legislation must continue to allow payments in cash and businesses must be required to accept payments in cash. The motion calls for strong legislation to ensure that cash is retained as legal tender. I certainly support this. We have moved a long way from having the barter system of many hundreds of years ago. We do not want to see people being forced back into such a retrograde step.

With respect to security, people are right to be concerned about the digital economy and how cash may be subject to digital theft. What guarantees can banks give with regard to keeping people's funds secured when we have seen such a rise in international and global cybercrime? These are the concerns that people have. Holding a certain amount of cash assuages this. We need to be aware of the ability of financial institutions to mine data using the amount of tapping we are all doing. In time it could be very easy for banks to be able to tell other financial institutions what health providers people might use, where their mortgages are placed and what convenience stores they shop in every week. These are concerns with regard to GDPR. In the overall I support the motion and I applaud the Rural Independent Group for tabling it.

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