Three years after Ireland adopted the euro, up to 130 people a day are still turning up at Central Bank headquarters in Dublin to turn their old Irish punts into the single European currency.
”There is still about 310-million punts’ [R2,9-billion] worth of old money outstanding. That breaks down about two to one, notes to coins,” a Central Bank spokesperson said.
Last year, about 10-million punts were exchanged for euros, with the busiest periods around public holidays such as Christmas, she said.
”We still have queues building up to exchange money on the odd occasion,” she added. ”There are still a lot of people finding hoards of old money.”
”The number of people coming generally varies between 50 and 100 a day. On a very quiet day it might drop to 20 or 30, but on other days it might rise to 120 or 130.”
One woman turned up at Central Bank headquarters after finding a 100-punt note that had been used as a bookmark. Another discovered a hoard of notes in the neck of a lamp; a third found a 50-punt note behind some old wallpaper.
”We have people who have found money in old handbags or coats and in garden shed,” the Central Bank spokesperson said.
”People digging in their garden have found buried jam jars or tins full of cash. You would wonder why someone would ever bury money like that — but they did.”
Central Bank headquarters is the only place in Ireland where punts can be changed into euros, after commercial banks ceased doing so two years ago. — Sapa-AFP