And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Why, the euro-smarty-pants, that's what! You can expect this particular beast to be throwing its weight around from January 1st - telling you what a moron you are for not knowing how many euros a newspaper costs in Portugal, how only a cretin forgets to triangulate when going from lire to francs, why the consumer price points under the euro can be guestimated using only an abacus, a comb and a piece of pink tissue paper.

But now you can say goodbye to that Rough Beast Misery, with your choice of euro-converter. Either will tell you in an instant the price of anything in euros.

For simple operations, use the stylish euro card converter. It has 18 different prices front and back, and wheels within wheels - just like the European Commission!

For more difficult euro sums, such as when "triangulating" through the euro from schillings to guilders, the electronic version is your only man. Tap in a figure on the top screen, hit the button, and scroll through the exact, triangulated, six-significant-figure conversion on the bottom. And it has sterling and dollars too!

Euro converters will be available from Bank of Ireland and other financial institutions early in the New Year.