ATM Cash Withdrawals Down 34% in Newry and Armagh since 2019

Love it or hate it, it is undeniable that a move towards a society where cash is no longer king is happening right before our eyes, with one obvious indicator being the decline in the use of ATM machines.

One factor has been COVID but other factors are at play and convenience also plays a part. It is getting more and more difficult to spend your hard earned cash, with many shops and services throughout the world now taking card only. Closer to home it seems that finding a person under 25 with cash in their pocket is near impossible.

LINK the UK’s cash access and ATM network have released figures today to show that while the direction of travel seems to be the same, the move away from cash is happening slower here in the north than in Great Britain.

Over the past twenty years, there has been a shift away from cash with more people choosing to bank and pay for things digitally or with contactless cards. As a result, cash use has fallen with recent industry statistics showing that cash represented 12% of all payments, down from around one-quarter of all payments in 2020, and 60% back in 2008.

LINK’s latest analysis shows that the total value of cash withdrawn from cash machines in every single Northern Irish parliamentary constituency has seen a significant fall since COVID. In 2024, £3.5bn was withdrawn from ATMs compared to £4.2bn in 2019, a 15.6% fall. That means Northern Irish banking customers are withdrawing £1.8m less from ATMs every day compared to before the pandemic.

Areas with higher levels of deprivation and digital exclusion are moving away from cash more slowly. 

In the Newry and Armagh Constituency ATM cash withdrawal is down 34% between 2019 and 2024 while South Down is down 35% for the same period. The move away from cash withdrawal at ATM's is most pronounced in Belfast South and Mid Down where it is down 57%, while at the other end West Tyrone is down just 28%.

Nick Quin, Head of Financial Inclusion, LINK said: “COVID changed how we live, how we work, and for many people, how we manage our cash. Cash use remains popular – we still withdrew £250m a day in 2024. The fact that areas which are more deprived are moving away from cash more slowly is a timely reminder that we cannot afford to leave anyone behind, and that we need to focus more on digital inclusion as part of how technology is rolled out across the UK.”

Check out your closest free to use ATM at https://www.link.co.uk/cash-locator