The punt: 73 years of service

By Stephen McKinley

For some countries, it is a poignant transition. France has proudly used the franc for many hundreds of years. Greece can lay claim to a currency that has had the same name, the drachma, for over 2,500 years.

But in Ireland, enthusiasm is high, with 72 percent of the population in favor of the change, according to independent polls.

After Jan. 1, people will have just six weeks to adjust to the new currency and dispense with the old one. Feb. 9 is the last day on which the punt can be exchanged for euros.

The name, punt, has only been around since 1979. And an independent Irish currency has existed only since 1928. Ireland established its own money system after independence from Britain in 1921, but kept its currency tied to sterling. Irish pounds and pennies were equal in worth to British ones.

It was W.B. Yeats who decided with a committee that the harp should be used on the Irish pound as the national symbol — this, too, has been retained on one side of the euro coins: each country displays its national symbol on one side, and a pan-European symbol on the other.

The first Irish pounds and coins were minted in London in 1928, and bore the words “One pound sterling payable to the bearer on demand in London.”

This was retained until the 1960s, even with the creation of an Irish Central Bank and an Irish mint. The ties to sterling lasted until Ireland joined the European Monetary System in 1979 and in the same year renamed the Irish pound the punt.

Ireland had adopted the decimal system in 1971, the same year as the UK. Some observers have said that that experience will mean that older shopkeepers and businesspersons will weather the transition to the euro without any problems.

That said, the government has mailed electronic euro convertors to most households in Ireland. A Cork-based car wash company, Carma, won the _3 million contract for the manufacture and supply of the euro convertors sent out to 1.5 million Irish homes. The punt is the only eurozone currency that is worth more than one euro — giving the impression that prices rise when they are converted into euros.

“Think euro — the change is in your pocket” reads one of the billboards around the country. There are still fears all over Europe that citizens and businesses are not ready for the change. Further information can be found at the government website, www.euro.ie .