Staff at the Republic's financial institutions have embarked on final preparations for the major task of switching all accounts to euro by next Monday.
This weekend will be a crucial period for banks and building societies, with hundreds of staff on duty in the IT divisions to ensure a smooth transition. Once banks close today, staff will begin to convert all the bank accounts in the State into euro. Customers will continue to receive statements in the two currencies for up to six months. By June it is expected that everything will be presented in euro.
Mr Pat O'Reilly, head of operations at AIB, said the bulk of the work over the weekend will be to back up account details in at least three different forms and to check that all of the accounts have been properly converted.
The next focus will then be on converting the cash machine network across the Republic. All ATM machines will close at 1.30 a.m. on January 1st, with most expected to re-open by 5 p.m. that evening. Some machines will be back in operation before noon. The machines will dispense €10 and €20 notes initially.
Most banks are advising customers to use Laser and credit cards over the New Year as a convenient way to adjust to the new currency and to avoid being short of cash. Teams have been working on this project for many years and many trial runs of these processes have been completed. Bank staff have also undergone extensive training to ensure they can assist customers and help them in the early days.
Most businesses have also received euro notes and coins to ensure they can begin to issue change in the new currency from January 1st.
All the financial institutions insist there will be plenty of staff available throughout the country to assist customers with queries.
The main advice, in order to avoid confusion, is to ensure that lodgements and deposits are separated into pounds and euro.
Customers are also being warned to only use a euro chequebook from January 1st and not to deface old chequebooks replacing the pound symbol with the euro. These cheques will not be honoured by the banks and punitive charges will be applied.
A freeze on annual leave is in place in most financial institutions until the Irish currency is withdrawn in February.
Staff have been awarded a once-off payment for the additional work involved in assisting with the introduction of the euro.