St Vincent de Paul is rolling out cashless donation buckets.

The charity has introduced 80 buckets fitted with an electronic card reader, allowing people to donate with a tap of their card.

The charity introduced the buckets after testing the technology earlier this year.

The charity’s head of fundraising Nicola Mullen said the charity is simply keeping up with the times.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for our donors to be able to keep supporting SVP,” she said.

“Donors will come up to us and go ‘I really want to give you something but I just don’t have cash.

“So we just want to make it as easy as possible for people to continue to support.

“We are seeing it ourselves. Our donors are asking for it so we are just meeting that demand.”

The charity expects to field 60,000 calls for help from people in need this winter and its Christmas appeal is warning that for many, the holidays are the most worrying time of the year.

You can donate to the appeal by visiting the SVP website or by supporting the Giving Tree Appeal, the Food Appeal or visiting the virtual gift store.