Almost €350 million worth of old Irish pounds has yet to be changed into euro some two decades after Ireland adopted the new currency.
Households across the country first began grappling with the novel coins and banknotes on January 1, 2002.
The dual circulation period – when both the Irish pound and the euro had legal tender status – ended on February 9 of the same year.
Many people at the time scrambled to gather up all their old punts and bring them to the bank for conversion into the newly minted national currency.
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.
Around €346.9 million worth of Irish pounds has yet to be redeemed, meaning those with old bags of coins and cash could be looking at a pretty penny worth of euros.
According to 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 arent so lucky as France, Spain and Italy no longer exchange the old currencies, with Portugal halting the conversion of coins from February.
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.
