THE NEW euro coins were on display for the first time in Amsterdam yesterday. The winning series was designed by Mr Luc Luycx of the Royal Mint in Belgium.
Depicting maps of Europe against a background of stars, the first three coins of one, two and five cents show Europe in the world.
The 10, 20 and 50 cent coins show Europe as a collection of nations, while the one and two euro coins show the EU without borders.
The harp will be the national symbol on the reverse of the Irish coins, the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, confirmed.
The coins vary in colour from a white border around a yellow interior for the smaller coins, to all yellow coins for the middle range and red coins for the larger denominations.
The current "European money", which has no hard currency, is the ecu. This is valued at around 74 pence.