The volume of digital banking payments made in Ireland annually has risen 85% since 2016, with a total of 131m digital payments made in 2021, according to figures from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).

The number of digital payments rose 10.4% year-on-year in 2021, as consumers continued to migrate towards personal and online banking, while cheque usage fell to a new low last year with only 20m payments made via cheque. Meanwhile, direct debits (139m) were up 0.7% from 2020.

Much like digital banking payments, contactless payments have also continued to rise steadily since their introduction in 2016 and now account for more than half of card payments (52%), up from 25% in 2017.

Brian Hayes, CEO of the BPFI, said the banking sector expects the shift towards digital channels and electronic payments to be a "long-lasting" one following the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions, adding that changes in consumer behaviour had been accelerated by the pandemic.

A total of 834m contactless payments worth €13.6bn were transacted in 2021, up 36.5% in terms of volume and 48.3% in value from the previous year (611m payments worth €9.2bn) and more than double the value of such payments made in 2019, prior to the pandemic.

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In December alone, just under 3m contactless payments, worth an estimated €53.8m, on average every day, up from 2.1m payments valued at €36.5m per day in December 2020.

Overall, €70.7bn was spent on cards in 2021, an increase from €57.2bn in 2019, according to Central Bank data, with cash withdrawals from ATMs falling from a peak of €19.9bn in 2018 o €12.7bn in 2021.

"Our latest payments figures which allow us to assess 2021 as a whole, very clearly demonstrate the continued momentum driving the use of digital banking as well as contactless payments and card spend more generally," Hayes said.

"In just five years we have seen an unprecedented jump of 85% in online and mobile banking payments as consumers continue to adopt to digital channels and move away from paper-based payments.

"Similarly, as the move away from cash continues and ATM usage falls, consumers are increasingly choosing instead to spend online or to use contactless cards when shopping in store."