Ireland's conversion to the euro is over 90 per cent complete and the changeover has passed by with few hitches, the chairman of the country's official changeover board, Mr Philip Hamell, said today.
|
"Everything has gone very well. The changeover may be up around 95 per cent now but it is certainly significantly over 90 per cent. The crucial thing is that what is crossing retail counters now is euro.
"'Euro as you go' was one of our catch phrases and that is the way it has happened. It went slightly more smoothly than we expected," he added.
Mr Hamell said there were a number of particular features of cash use in Ireland that helped with the changeover.
"We have quite a high level of ATM (automated teller machine) usage. By January 8th we had 2.6 million transactions, which is equivalent to the entire adult population.
"We also have a social welfare system that is paid weekly and mainly in cash. It involves significantly over half a million people and that gave us a very considerable handle in pumping notes out. That money goes to people who need it and they began to use it immediately.
"We also aimed to put at least four or five five-euro notes in each payment to get the small value note out into circulation."
AFP