More than 36 million euro a day was spent through contactless payments in Ireland last month.
The Banking and Payments Federation saw record levels of transactions via the payment system in December with over one billion spent for the first time.
There's also been an increase in both the volumes and value of contactless transactions on a daily basis.
"This is going to obviously continue for some time to come because of the virus" says Waterford native Jim Power, chief economist at Friends First.
Power says the common use of cash is a thing of the past.
"I think a lot of people will really get out of the habit of handing physical cash, and we'll become totally accustomed to contactless card payments.
"There's no doubt about it, cash is going the way of the dinosaurs."
