Central Bank dismisses talk of punt plans

FRESHLY minted rumours are the only new currency in circulation, the Central Bank has insisted.

It was trying to play down reports that it was making contingency plans in the event of a return to the punt.

A story in the Wall Street Journal sparked a flurry of speculation after it quoted sources as saying the acquisition of extra printing presses was discussed at a meeting of bank officials in recent weeks, with a view to having sufficient capacity if the need arose to produce a currency to replace the euro.

The story said: “Officials have discussed reactivating old printers or enlisting a private company.”

It quoted one unnamed source as saying: “All kinds of things are being looked at that weren’t being looked at two months ago.”

Responding to the rumours yesterday, a Central Bank spokesman stated: “The Central Bank is not printing Irish bank notes. Punts are not being printed elsewhere on the instruction of the Central Bank. The Central Bank continues to print euro currency.”

When asked about the specific claim that the bank was making preparations in case of the need to print punts at some stage in the future, the spokesman said: “No additional comment is being made.”

Rumours that the Central Bank’s mint has been dusting off its old punt prints and pence moulds have surfaced at other times during the euro crisis, most recently last summer, although a report in a respected financial publication like the Wall Street Journal carries significantly more weight.

The Central Bank mint, located in a maximum security facility in Sandyford in south Dublin, would be severely strained if it had to produce a new currency at short notice, as it only printed €10 notes last year, albeit 127 million of them.

Printing of euro notes is a task shared by central banks across Europe so Ireland received notes in all the other denominations from other Eurozone countries that are part of the production pool. However, this arrangement would end if we scrapped the euro.

The mint also produced 176 million euro and cent coins.

However, the need for immediate availability of punts in the event of the end of the euro is questionable as euro notes could be gradually replaced, and the lack of physical punts would not affect electronic payment transactions.