Wexford made penniless: town abolishes small change

More than 200 business owners in Wexford are getting ready to operate without one- and two-cent coins for a nine-week trial period.

The town has been selected to operate the so called "rounding trial" by the Central Bank.

From September 16, all prices will be either rounded up or down to the nearest 5c in an effort to remove the number of small coins in circulation.

"It's very good for the Wexford people to have a say in what could be rolled out nationally," said Madeline Quirke, Chief Executive of Wexford Chamber of Commerce.

"If people have problems – and there are a few concerns that it may hit the consumer in the pocket – research has shown that it really will balance out, that neither the merchants nor the consumer will suffer as a consequence of this."

The experiment will run for two months.