It can be hard to have sufficient money to keep you going over the Christmas period but it might be wise to hold a bit more cash in hand as you ring in the New Year.

The State's financial institutions will close on December 28th and re-open on January 2nd in line with the normal holiday arrangements.

But the most important thing to remember this year is that the banks will also be shutting down the automated cash dispensing machines on January 1st to load them up with euros.

Banks and building societies plan to close the entire ATM network from around 1.30 a.m. on January 1st. Some will re-open as early as 6.30 a.m. but others may not be back in business until at least the close of business that day.

The banks hope to have 85 per cent of all ATMs up and running by close of business on E-Day.

The priority will be to ensure that the busiest cash machines - mainly in key locations in the large cities and towns - will be the earliest to re-open to dispense euro notes to customers. Customers living in smaller towns or in the suburbs of the main cities are likely to experience longer delays while the machines are stocked with the new currency.

Most ATMs are carrying notices alerting customers to the disruption in this service to ensure they withdraw sufficient funds to meet their requirements.

However, if everything goes according to plan, the public should not experience too much inconvenience.

The banks are very confident that the transition will be relatively straightforward, based on the many trials that have already been run.

The machines will initially be dispensing €10 and €20 notes, with €50 notes being made available from mid-January.

Traditionally, New Year's Day does not tend to be a particularly busy day in terms of usage of cash machines with most demand coming from shoppers going to the sales, according to the banks.

The financial institutions are advising customers that using a laser card or credit card is the best way to pay for goods and services over the festive season.

As well as offering another way to gain access to cash, using laser or credit cards may also help to ease the transition to the new currency.

The purchases will be automatically posted to your bank account in euro and many retailers will also give cash back in euro when requested on a laser card.

Otherwise, the most crucial fact to remember is if you decide to use cheques, it is important that you switch to your new euro chequebook on January 1st or you could face punitive bank charges.

Anyone who decides to simply cross out the pound sign on their cheque book and insert euro will have their cheque returned with a charge of around €10 per cheque. The banks say a "defaced" cheque cannot be processed because of the risk of fraud.

Cheques written before January 1st will be processed as usual even if that cheque is not lodged for six months.

Customers can send in their old cheque books to the financial institutions and will be refunded 7p for each unused cheque. Most also offer the option to donate these funds to charities.

Otherwise the banks are encouraging customers to get rid of any coins they may be hoarding in money boxes and to either spend them or lodge the funds to their accounts before February 9th.

There are also arrangements where customers can give coins, both Irish and foreign to various charities at their local branch.