Decimal Day - Ireland

Ireland

See also: Irish pound

When the old pounds, shillings, and pence system was in operation, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, operated within the Sterling Area, effectively a single monetary area. The Irish pound had come into existence as a separate currency in 1927, but the terms of the Irish Currency Act obliged the Irish currency commissioners to redeem Irish pounds on a fixed 1:1 basis, and so day-to-day banking operations continued exactly as they had been before the creation of the Irish Pound (known in Irish as the punt).

This state of affairs continued until 1979 when Irish obligations to the European Monetary System forced them to break the historic link with Sterling.

In Ireland, all pre-decimal coins, except the 1s, 2s and 10s coins, were called in during the initial process between 1969 to 1972; the ten shilling coin, which, as recently issued and in any event equivalent to 50p, was permitted to remain outstanding (though due to silver content, the coin did not circulate). The 1s and 2s were recalled in 1993 and 1994 respectively. Pre-decimal Irish coins may still be redeemed at their face value equivalent in euro at the Central Bank in Dublin.

Prior to decimalisation, low-value Irish postage stamps used 'p' (for Irish pingin) rather than 'd' with the number of pence; so a two-penny stamp was marked '2p' in Ireland rather than '2d' as in the UK. After decimalisation, while British stamps switched from 'd' to 'p', Irish stamps switched to printing the number with no accompanying letter; so a stamp worth 2 new pence was marked '2p' in the UK and simply '2' in Ireland.