Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is an old saying, "Cash is king." I agree with that. It is very important that cash is facilitated. As a postmaster myself, I fully appreciate what Deputy Conway-Walsh said about the good work the post office network did in making sure people's pensions and unemployment benefit were paid out, even though these were not on the system, so to speak, and manually did it to make sure cash was in circulation.

One thing I always say is the best way to make sure these services are preserved into the future is for people to use them. I often give my own experience as an example. When I was working at the post office in my home village ten or 15 years ago, we made 200 payments on average on Fridays. Now we pay out 40% of that figure. That is not because the population of the village is declining. The simple reality is that people are taking the option to get payments paid into their bank accounts. That is their entitlement; I am not saying it is not. People are moving away from cash. The reason we have this legislation in place is to protect the infrastructure based on the 2022 levels. The fact of the matter is many people are using cash less and less frequently.

With regard to the point about cash acceptance made by Deputy Doherty, the European Commission published a proposal for the regulation on the legal tender of euro banknotes and coins in June 2023. The proposal would provide for mandatory acceptance of cash in the euro area, with some exceptions. European Council working party meetings on the proposal are under way and progress is being made towards gaining agreement on a general approach. The proposal included a requirement that member states prepare and submit an annual report on the acceptance of cash.

In October 2024, the then Minister for Finance, Deputy Jack Chambers, launched a national payment strategy at the Central Bank of Ireland's offices and published the national payment strategy on the Department's website. The national payment strategy contains 16 further outcome recommendations in areas such as cash, resilience of payments, payment fraud, account-to-account payments and data collection initiatives. With regard to cash acceptance, the national payments framework recommends cash acceptance or cash facilitation in the public sector where a public body levies fines or fees or provides goods or services for a charge. The national payment strategy proposes that all Government Departments and bodies under their aegis accept a range of electronic and non-electronic payments, including cash. If a body cannot accept cash directly, it must arrange immediately for the facilitation of cash payments through a third party.

In November 2024, the Secretary General of the Department of Finance wrote to all other Secretaries General notifying them of this requirement and that any future contracts to be agreed

between Government Departments, and bodies under their aegis, with third parties that involve seeking payment from the public must also include a cash acceptance or facilitation element. Government Departments and bodies under their aegis will be required to confirm, via their annual reports, that they are in compliance with the recommendation, further supporting the need for oversight and review.

Future outcome 3.3 of the national payment strategy sets out that there will be a comprehensive overview of the national cash cycle environment that will inform policy thinking and formation related to cash and payments. Accepting this amendment would therefore represent a duplication of effort.

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