New figures have shown the number of contactless payments on credit or debit cards in Ireland are up 59.2%.

Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) said consumers made close to one million contactless payments per day in 2018.

Irish firms also recorded the highest percentage of online sales in the European Union.

BPFI said during the second half of last year, the volume and value of contactless payments both grew by almost 60%.

Digital banking payments were also up 12.6% over the same period.

Some 364 million contactless payments to the value of more than €4.4bn were made by consumers during 2018.

Consumers used digital banking (personal online or mobile banking) to make 93.7 million credit transfers during 2018 - up 12.6% during the second half of the year.

eCommerce growth

While over one-third of consumer debit card spend and almost a half of all personal credit card spend during the first quarter of 2019 has been through eCommerce - as distinct from physical shops.

BPFI added: "The use by Irish enterprises of online as a sales channel is the second highest in the EU, according to Eurostat; and, at 35%, the percentage of total sales transacted online is the highest in the EU."

However it seems cash does remain king: €19.9bn was withdrawn from ATMs in Ireland during 2018, according to figures from the Central Bank.

Richard Walsh is head of digital and payments strategy at the BPFI.

"Ireland can point to several developments on this front.

"The five main retail banks here recently provided BPFI with a mandate to examine the development of an industry-wide consumer and merchant mobile-based payment proposition for the Irish market.

"The banks have also agreed a timeline for the delivery of real-time payments for the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and the introduction of SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) in Ireland."

"Coupled with clear appetite on the part of consumers for mobile-based, instant payment solutions, this provides the basis for an innovative payments infrastructure that should serve the country well into the future."