Irish consumers are switching from cheques to debit cards.

The Irish Payment Services Organisation says since 2005, debit card usage has quadrupled.

In 2013, Irish consumers spent 17.6 billion euro on debit card purchases.

The number of cheques has halved - and credit card usage declined by just under five percent last year.

Ireland still remains one of the highest users of cash in the EU, with 20.4 billion euro taken out of ATMs last year.