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Dublin Live
Dublin Live
National
Marita Moloney

Irish people with old pounds could be in for big payday

People with old Irish pounds could make bank as millions have still not been changed into euros.

Almost €350 million worth of Ireland's former currency is still floating around.

This means that those with old bags of coins could be worth a lot of cash, the Irish Mirror reports.

Read more: Social welfare payment dates changed over May bank holiday

Ireland adopted the euro on January 1, 2002, with people across the country scrambling at the time to get used to the new currency.

The dual circulation period – when both the Irish pound and the euro had legal tender status – ended on February 9 of the same year.

Around €346.9 million worth of Irish pounds has yet to be redeemed, but the good news is that the Central Bank of Ireland continues to exchange old pound banknotes and coins with no deadline for the conversion of old tender.

According to an analysis from Bloomberg, €224.1 million in banknotes are yet to be redeemed by Irish people, while €122.8 million in coins have yet to be cashed in.

The media outlet estimates that the total that can still be redeemed across Europe's central banks is equivalent to about €8.5 billion.

However, citizens of some countries aren't so lucky as France, Spain, Portugal and Italy no longer exchange the old currencies.

People wishing to change their old Irish pounds into euros can do so by contacting the Central Bank of Ireland.

The conversion rate between the euro and the Irish Pound is €1 = £0.787564 and this remains fixed.

You can call into the Central Bank or you can send Irish banknotes to the financial institution by registered post.

The bank will then issue the value in euro by transfer to a bank account.

More information on how to go through this process can be found here.

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