FINANCE MINISTER JACK Chambers will outline to Cabinet today that under the new National Payment strategy all government departments and bodies under their aegis will have to accept cash or facilitate cash payments.

The minister will tell Cabinet colleagues that cash remains the preferred form of payment for many people in society, particularly older people, and it is important they continue to be able to use it in their day to day lives.

The strategy also sets out that any future contracts agreed between government departments and their agencies with third parties which seek payment from the public must also include cash acceptance or facilitation.

The Department of Transport had to step in last year to clarify that the NCT must continue to accept cash after the test’s operator announced that it would be going cashless.

Chambers will outline that cash facilitation could include a consumer using cash in a retail outlet to purchase a payzone voucher which can then be redeemed for a particular service.

Earlier this year, the Mater Private also defended the card-only policy in its restaurant, which is used by many elderly visitors and patients to its central Dublin hospital.

The question of cash came under the political spotlight in recent months as the government announced it would legislate to protect its use in certain settings, with pharmacies and shops selling groceries understood to be the most likely businesses targeted.

Cabinet will also be told that legislation at an EU level is also being progressed on mandatory cash acceptance and a key focus of the National Payments Strategy is to inform all sectors of the economy of the new rules coming in this area.

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The strategy is separate from Access to Cash legislation, which is being progressed and focuses on there being a minimum number of ATMs in towns and villages across the country.

The area of fraud prevention and the establishment of a cross sectoral anti-fraud forum consisting of online platforms, telecommunications firms and financial service providers is also contained in the new plan.