Sir, – With reference to the article "Ireland is running short of one-cent coins" (March 25th), regarding the Central Bank encouraging people to either donate or spend their one cent and two cent coins due to a major shortage of them, we have been running a nationwide campaign since last October called "Change for Charity" with the knowledge of the Central Bank and based on their rounding initiative in 2013.
Our campaign is endeavouring to collect as many of these coins as possible and donate them to a number of Irish charities – there’s €35 million of them in the country lying in people’s homes, offices, cars and doing no good for anyone.
The Central Bank says it cannot align itself to any one charitable cause, which I understand, but this fund is open to any charity to apply to for funding in addition to the five nominated charities already on board.
It seems like a futile exercise to me for the Central Bank to be trying to collect these coins through sporadic pieces of PR when we have all of the collection processes in place and have the country covered in receptacles.
We have collection units located nationwide from Donegal to Dingle in every branch of both AIB and Bank of Ireland in addition to a number of retail outlets, businesses and schools.
We will also be co-ordinating a “National Coin Day” in September when every single person in the country will be asked to donate their one cent and two cent coins on a specific date for charity.
Is it just me or would it not be more productive for the Central Bank to get behind this campaign to make it work for everyone?
Numerous charities will benefit, the public will get rid of their coins while doing some good at the same time and the Central Bank will get its one cent and two cent coins back in without any cost to it. It makes cents to me!
NORMA SMURFIT,
Dublin.
Sir, – So the Central Bank is running out of one and two cent coins. Maybe it could tell the retail banks to stop being so choosy about what legal tender they will accept. At present Bank of Ireland only accepts coins in bags approved by it and only when those bags contain exactly what is printed on them.
As if banks refusing legal tender were not farcical enough, they will only accept the full, approved bags of coins on Tuesday mornings or all day Friday.
In their “state-of-the-art” banks there is no such old-fashioned thing as a cashier.
In the robot bank, there are only machines to do business with, and they don’t even know what a coin looks like. – Yours, etc,
EAMONN MURDOCK,
Dublin 14.