More than 1.2 billion domestic payments were made on Irish cards, valued at almost €50 billion, in the first half of 2026, new figures from Banking & Payments Federation Ireland show today.
The latest Payments Monitor from BPFI reveals that 75.3% of these payments were made at the point of sale (POS) in shops, restaurants and other retail outlets, increasing by 5.4% in volume year on year to 930 million transactions.
BPFI noted that 89.9% of POS payments were contactless, with mobile wallets accounting for almost two thirds of contactless payments.
A total of 153 contactless payments per person were conduced in Ireland on Irish cards in the first half of 2026, up from 143 the same time last year.
Dublin recorded the highest number of contactless payments per capita in Ireland, at 419 in the 12 months to June, including 279 made through mobile wallets.
Carlow had the second highest number of contactless and mobile wallet payments per capita, at 355 and 208 respectively, followed by Limerick, with 324 contactless and 203 mobile wallet payments per capita.
Roscommon had the lowest contactless and mobile wallet usage, with 145 contactless and 73 mobile wallet payments per capita. Mobile wallets accounted for only 50.1% of contactless payments in Roscommon, compared with 66.5% in Dublin.
Offaly, Monaghan and Leitrim also had fewer than 100 mobile wallet payments per capita in the 12 months to the end of June, BPFI said.
Gillian Byrne, Head of Payments at BPFI said that mobile wallets have clearly overtaken physical cards in popularity, with some 64.2% of contactless payments made using mobile wallets, up from 58.2% in H1 2025.
“Contactless payments dominate everyday, lower-value spending in shops and other outlets. The average mobile wallet payment was €20.96, while the average contactless card payment was lower at €15.36,” Ms Byrne said.
“Online card payments are also growing and tend to be used for higher-value purchases. Domestic online card payments rose by 12.9% year on year to 305 million transactions in the first half of 2026, valued at nearly €24 billion, with the average online card payment at €78.49,” she added.
Contactless public transport rollout expected to boost card usage from 2028
The National Transport Authority (NTA) plans to roll out contactless payments across the public transport network on a phased basis, starting with the Greater Dublin Area from 2028. BPFI estimates this could result in at least 25 million additional contactless payments in its first year of operation.
Contactless payments have already been introduced on TFI Local Link services and the system is expected to be deployed across all 15 offices by the end of 2026.
“There were almost 364 million passenger journeys on bus, rail and tram in 2025, according to the NTA, with some 248 million of those journeys paid for using Leap cards, 19.3% higher than in 2024,” Gillian Byrne said.
“Payment cards already play an important role in public transport through Leap card top-ups, with €294m added to Leap cards in 2025, including almost €210m via credit or debit cards on the Leap Top-up app, a 30% increase on 2024,” she added.
“Irish consumers have enthusiastically adopted contactless, and especially mobile wallet, payments in recent years. The rollout of contactless payments on the public transport system represents a huge opportunity to increase card usage in Ireland, with many Leap card users likely to switch quickly to pay-as-you-go contactless payments when they become available,” she said.
