The Central Bank is proceeding with its campaign to turn Ireland into a cashless society by encouraging its own staff to stop using notes and coins.
The bank has recently issued a request for tender to supply and install a cashless payment system for use by employees in restaurants and shops located within its new headquarters on North Wall Quay in Dublin’s docklands.
The move comes as the bank said it expected to dispose of its recently-acquired Spencer Dock building, which it bought for €104 million last September.
Some 1,400 staff are expected to move into what was formerly the proposed Anglo Irish Bank headquarters by the end of the year.
According to the tender notice, the new cashless payment system will also be installed at the bank's currency centre on Sandyford Road, where 195 staff are based.
Headquarters
The Central Bank operates a cashless system at four of its sites, and employees from three of these offices are set to move to the new headquarters by December.
The tender notice says the bank has no intention of retaining its Spencer Dock building. However, it added it may exercise an option to extend the planned contract and seek to provide a cashless system inhouse if it decides not to sell the premises.
Prior to the purchase of the property, which is situated close to the new headquarters, the bank was paying €3 million to rent just under 50 per cent of the block.
The new cashless system envisaged by the Central Bank must be able to handle up to 50 users at one time, and to handle in excess of 2,000 active users.
Overall, the bank is looking for 15 cashless kiosks or payment terminals for the North Wall Quay site and a further five at the Sandyford offices. It envisages customers having online access to their accounts so they can top up balances and view recent transactions.
The Central Bank launched a major national campaign in early 2014 to persuade consumers and businesses to stop using cash and cheques, claiming that increasing the use of electronic payments could save the Irish economy as much as €1 billion a year.
Nordic countries are leading the way towards cashless societies in the West with a study published last year showing Sweden is first in the European Union for card payments in 2012 with 230 transactions per inhabitant.
In Ireland however, consumers and businesses remain attached to banknotes, with the value of ATM withdrawals here some 66 per cent higher than the EU average.
Closing date to apply for the tender is today.
