He has also designed over 70 Irish postage stamps and the last series of Irish banknotes, " Series C ", before the introduction of the euro.

He also presided over a successful Irish Presidency of the European Union in 1996 and helped finalise the Stability and Growth Pact, which establishes macroeconomic parameters for countries participating in the single European currency, the euro.

Therefore, it is possible to find Irish euro coins in Greece and Finnish euro coins in Portugal, for instance.

According to the Economic and Monetary Union Act, 1998 of the Republic of Ireland which replaced the legal tender provisions that had been re-enacted in Irish legislation from previous British enactments, No person, other than the Central Bank of Ireland and such persons as may be designated by the Minister by order, shall be obliged to accept more than 50 coins denominated in euro or in cent in any single transaction.

In Ireland the 1c coin is also sometimes known as a penny in reference to the Irish penny, worth of the Irish pound replaced by the euro in 2002.

The Irish pound was superseded by the euro on 1 January 1999.

Although the euro became the currency of the eurozone countries including Ireland on 1 January 1999, it was not until 1 January 2002 that the state began to withdraw Irish pound coins and notes, replacing them with euro specie.

Irish pound coins and notes ceased to be legal tender on 9 February 2002, although they are intended to be exchangeable indefinitely for euro at the Central Bank.

With a conversion factor of 0. 787564 Irish pounds to the euro, 56 %, by value, of Irish banknotes was withdrawn from circulation within two weeks of the introduction of euro banknotes and coins, and 83. 4 % by the time they ceased to have legal tender status.

All Irish coins and banknotes, from the start of the Irish Free State onwards, both decimal and pre-decimal, may be exchanged for euro at the Central Bank in Dublin.

Most retailers, especially the larger chains, continued to show prices in Irish pounds under the euro price for up to 5 years after the changeover, enabling people to see the price in old currency and check whether prices had been improperly inflated.

* Irish euro coins

Terminals could be rented for 5. 00 Irish pounds ( 6. 35 euro ) per month or purchased for 250. 00 Irish pounds ( 317. 43 euro ) in 1992.

The harp emblem is used on official state seals and documents including the Irish passport and has appeared on Irish coinage from the Middle Ages to the current Irish imprints of Euro coins.

Therefore shamrocks generally do not appear on Irish coins or postage stamps.

A swan depicted on an Euro gold and silver commemorative coins ( Ireland ) | Irish commemorative coin in celebration of its EU presidency.

The coins ' design also features the 12 stars of the EU, the year of imprint and the Irish name for Ireland, " ÉIRE ", in the traditional Gaelic script.

Other artifacts include bronze reliefs depicting a sea deity, fishermen and tritons, nine stone or bronze statues of dogs, one of which has a human face, and some of which are similar to Irish Wolfhounds, a bronze plaque of a woman, a bronze arm, an oculist's stamp ( used by physicians to mark their cakes of eye ointment ), about 320 pins, nearly 300 bracelets, and over 8, 000 coins.

* Farthing ( Irish coin ), its counterpart among the pre-decimal Irish coins

In the 18th century, the college received the Brian Boru harp, one of the three surviving medieval Gaelic harps, and a national symbol of Ireland, notably used on the Irish Euro coins.

" Hibernia " was used on Irish coins and companies such the Hibernian Insurance Company were established ( later renamed the Hibernian Group ).

Ancient Roman pottery, coins, and other Roman products are found in Irish archaeology from the period, though not in large quantities.

George I's five guinea coins were only struck in 1716, 1717, 1720, and 1726, and they bear his abbreviated Hanoverian titles in addition to the usual British, French, and Irish title.

George I's two guinea coins were only struck in 1717, 1720, and 1726, and they bear his abbreviated Hanoverian titles in addition to the usual British, French, and Irish title.

In 1927 he entered a design for the coins of the Irish Free State, and though his design arrived too late for consideration it was adopted in 1965 as the seal of the Central Bank of Ireland.

Irish banks continued to issue paper money denominated in sterling after 1826 but no further distinct coins were issued.

Until 1986, all decimal Irish coins were the same shape and size as their UK counterparts.

When the UK 5p and 10p coins were reduced in size, the Irish followed suit but with the new Irish 10p smaller than the new UK version and the new Irish 5p slightly bigger than the UK version.

When you pass a church on an Irish bus, all the hands flurry in the sign of the cross.

Of course, if you want to throw all caution to the winds and rent an Imperial or Cadillac limousine just for you and your bride, you'll have a memorable tour, but it won't be cheap, and it is not recommended unless you own a producing oil well or you've had a winner in the Irish Sweepstakes.

The Irish were gay but made trouble in the house ; the English were of all kinds " She proposes this, after the fact, knowing the chosen Charlotte lasts decades.

It attracts competitors from all of the main show jumping nations and is carried live on Irish national television.

The Irish Free State, whose consent to the Abdication Act was also required, neither gave it nor allowed the British legislation to take effect in the Free State's jurisdiction ; instead, the Irish parliament passed its own Act — the Executive Authority ( External Relations ) Act — the day after the Declaration of Abdication Act took force elsewhere, meaning Edward VIII, for one day, remained King of Ireland while George VI was king of all the other realms.

In Ireland the oath was imposed of state office holders, teachers and lawyers, and on clergy of the established church in from 1703, the following year it was on all Irish voters and from 1709 it can be demanded from any adult male by a magistrate.

The Anglo-Welsh side ( Irish and Scottish unions did not participate ) performed well in all the non-test matches, but drew a test against New Zealand and lost the other two.

The 1910 tour to South Africa marked the official beginning of British and Irish rugby tours: the inaugural tour operating under all four unions.

" We had not got forty yards on our retreat ," remembered Captain Peter Drake, the Irish mercenary serving with the French – " when the words sauve qui peut went through the great part, if not the whole army, and put all to confusion "

The Irish Home Rule bill gave all owners of Irish land a chance to sell to the state at a price equal to 20 years ' purchase of the rents and allowing tenants to purchase the land.

In 1971, the Irish band Skara Brae recorded its first and only LP ( simply called Skara Brae ), all songs in Irish.

The whole, however, may be judged from this fragment: " We Irish, though dwelling at the far ends of the earth, are all disciples of St. Peter and St. Paul ... we are bound to the Chair of Peter, and although Rome is great and renowned, through that Chair alone is she looked on as great and illustrious among us ... On account of the two Apostles of Christ, you pope are almost celestial, and Rome is the head of the whole world, and of the Churches ".

If the sources for north-eastern Britain, the lands of the kingdom of Northumbria and the former Pictland, are limited and late, those for the areas on the Irish Sea and Atlantic coasts — the modern regions of north-west England and all of northern and western Scotland — are non-existent, and archaeology and toponymy are of primary importance.

While the sources for north-eastern Britain, the lands of the kingdom of Northumbria and the former Pictland, are limited and late, those for the areas on the Irish Sea and Atlantic coasts — the modern regions of north-west England and all of northern and western Scotland — are non-existent, and archaeology and toponymy are of primary importance.

Filet crochet, Tunisian crochet, tapestry crochet, broomstick lace, hairpin lace, cro-hooking, and Irish crochet are all variants of the basic crochet method.

" Book Of Days " was featured prominently in the movie Far and Away, with an English-lyric version created for the film then replacing the old Irish language version on all pressings of the Shepherd Moons album from 1993 onwards.

The Irish Republican Brotherhood ( IRB ) saw an opportunity to create an armed organisation to advance its own ends, and on 25 November 1913 the Irish Volunteers, whose stated object was " to secure and to maintain the rights and liberties common to all the people of Ireland ", was formed.

In 1985 The Pogues took it full circle by restoring all the Irish references.

The left bar shows all the leaders of Fianna Fáil, and the right bar shows the corresponding make-up of the Irish government at that time.

Mary Daly grew up an Irish Catholic and all of her education was received through Catholic schools.

Although Irish and Manx are often referred to as Irish Gaelic and Manx Gaelic ( as they are Goidelic or Gaelic languages ), the use of the word Gaelic is unnecessary because the terms Irish and Manx, when referring to language, only ever refer to these languages, whereas Scots has come to refer to a Germanic language, and therefore " Scottish " can refer to things not at all Gaelic.