Ireland’s pensioners gave the euro an enthusiastic welcome as they collected their pensions in the new currency this morning.
Queues formed early at a very busy GPO on Dublin’s O’Connell Street, but fears of mass confusion proved unfounded as social welfare recipients received their payments in euro and cent for the first time.
Most pensioners seemed rather more informed about the euro changeover than many of the younger generation as they tapped on their euro calculators in the main hall of the GPO.
Although sad to see the punt consigned to history, Olive and Noel from Artane had no problems with the new currency. Olive did her shopping in euro yesterday and cleared all her old coins out of her house weeks ago.
She advised that we should all "forget about the old and welcome the new" and thought the sooner all are using the euro the better.
But the one cent coin proved less of a hit, with many pensioners making unfavourable comparisons with the old ha’penny.
Catherine from Stoneybatter thought the new currency was easy to use and seemed quite au fait with the conversion rate of one euro to £0.787564. She counted her money out, did some quick mental arithmetic and appeared quite happy with the result.
However, Ms Kathleen Heneghan from Dublin remains a euro-sceptic. "We’ve been pushed into it," she declared, maintaining Ireland should have followed Britain’s example and held on to monetary independence.
Mr Tom Reilly liked the new currency but found it hard to believe that a pint will now cost him €3.20 in his local pub. He also was unimpressed with the one cent coin which he described as "useless".
When asked about the danger of overcharging in shops most people seemed resigned to paying more at the checkout despite the best efforts of consumer groups and Government guidelines.
Compared to the pensioners, some of the younger generation seemed downright cynical about the euro. One described it as a "Government scam" while another declared that the country has been "downloaded with euros".