Irish households to be advised to keep cash at home 'in case of emergencies'

Households across Ireland are soon to be advised to keep cash at home in case of emergencies.

The advise comes as part of an update on what to do during extreme events such as cyber attacks or power outages caused by bad weather.

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Countries across Europe including Finland and the Netherlands have already advised their citizens to keep between €70 and €100 in cash per household member in order to pay for essentials if such an emergency occurs.

In the past, people across Ireland, especially the elderly and those most vulnerable, have been advised against keeping sums of cash in their home, but Tánaiste Simon Harris has now said the Government will issue the new guidelines.

Seán Moynihan of Alone said they are working with older people and doing a hug amount of training to make sure the elderly can be more cyber aware as he said, "We all need to access cash for emergency purposes. It's good advice for older people and the rest of us".

Weather events in Ireland over the past years like Storm Éowyn left thousands without power reminding households of how vulnerable they can be when cut off from electricity and other essentials.

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Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, cyber security expert Brian Honan of BH Consulting said wider technological outages can have a major impact on households.

"All our lives in some ways now are reliant on a digital element.

"We saw major disruptions back in 2021 to the HSE due to the ransomware attack against the HSE. But in recent months we've seen major disruptions to other service providers when the likes of Amazon, AWS went down.

"It's sensible for businesses and individuals not just to consider keeping cash in order to be able to buy goods in the event of a prolonged outage, but businesses should look at their digital footprint," said Mr Honan before adding, "If there is a power outage and you run a shop, can you still run the cash register?"