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The new euro notes
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The Central Bank officially unveiled the seven euro bank notes today, six weeks before they will be available to the general public.
The notes, which will come into use on January 1st, are in denominations of 5, 10, 20 50, 200 and 500 and contain security features including intaglio print, holograms, watermarks and security threads.
A European-wide mass media, information campaign will intensify over the next few weeks and will include the delivery of 200 million leaflets to households across Europe detailing the security features and informing people on how to identify forgeries.
Already in Ireland, the Central Bank has printed 294 million notes while the currency centre in Sandyford, Co. Dublin, has minted 1.1 billion coins to replace the 2.5 billion coins in use at the moment.
In Ireland, the Central Bank has already distributed 95 per cent of the coins while distribution of the notes began at the end of last week.
Following a competition in December 1996, the series submitted by Robert Kalina, a banknote designer at the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, was selected as the official design and the notes will be available from all bank and retail outlets from January.
His design, according to the Central Bank, was inspired by different periods in European history ranging from classical Greece to modern 20th century architecture.
Starter packs of coins will be for sale in post offices from December 14th where for £5 people will be given an example of all the different euro coins.