Over Half of Ireland’s Contactless Payments Now Made via Mobile NFC

Nearly 90% of all card payments in Ireland in 2024 were contactless—and more than half of those were made using NFC-enabled mobile phones, according to the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).

In total, Irish consumers made over 1.5 billion contactless point-of-sale (POS) payments last year, with a combined value of €26.7 billion, covering purchases in shops, restaurants, and other retail settings.

“Contactless payments remain hugely popular with Irish shoppers,” said Gillian Byrne, head of payments at BPFI. “They accounted for almost 90% of all in-store card transactions in 2024, showing just how embedded this method has become in everyday spending.”