€434m in old Irish money is missing, says Central Bank

AS the euro approaches its first birthday, €434 million worth of old Irish currency is still missing.

The Central Bank expects much of the 'mattress money' to turn up over the coming months. Up to 200 people still visit the Central Bank each day to convert Irish currency to euro.

"We have allocated extra staff to deal with the numbers. Most of the tellers are working on almost nothing else at the moment," said Central Bank spokesperson Neil Whoriskey.