Wexford Town abandons 1c and 2c coins in pilot scheme

Retailers in Wexford Town will stop handing out one and two cent coins in change to customers from today.

Instead prices at the tills will be rounded to the nearest five cent.

The new scheme is being trialled in Wexford Town, as research shows consumers do not enjoy using the tiny denominations. If successful, it will be rolled out nationwide.

But Programme Manager for the National Payments Plan Ronnie O'Toole says you can still get one and two cents back in change if you wish.

"Participation in this is entirely voluntary," he said.

"If you wanted to get exact change, you would be able to get exact change. If you wanted to use one and two cent coins to pay, you could.

"Now, in practice, if we look at the Netherlands, that's not what happened, because you're not getting [the coins] back in change, so you just don't tend to use them."

The National Payments Plan is operated by the Central Bank, and exists to encourage adoption of secure electronic payments and improve efficiency in cash use, among other goals.