Digital and mobile payments are quickly becoming the norm across Ireland.

A new Europe-wide survey of 36,000 customers, by Visa, shows the proportion of consumers who regularly use a mobile device – phone, tablet or even wearables – to make payments, pay bills, or to transfer money has tripled in the past year alone, increasing from 18% to 54% 
 
The incidence is actually higher in Ireland with close to 80% now making money transfers on the move.

Despite worries about cyber crime and data protection, more than one third of customers are now comfortable paying for significant transactions such as holidays or furniture on a mobile device.

Philip Konopic of Visa Ireland told Breakfast Business that the fastest growing cohort of mobile payment users is 55 to 64 year olds, adding that this demographic is growing as these users are "catching up" with advances in digital payments.

Mr Konopic said that the rapid rise is the result of a sustained "evolution of customer experience" as online and mobile payments become increasingly "friction-less."