The rate for the pound was set by the EU Finance Ministers at one euro to just under 79p. The precise rate is 78.7564p.

To convert an Irish pound amount to euros, the pound amount should thus be divided by .787564. The result should be rounded to two decimal places - in other words to the nearest cent. According to the Euro Changeover Board, the figure should be rounded down where the third figure after the decimal point is 4 or lower and rounded up if it is 5 or higher.

For example, a euro amount of 4.184 would be rounded down to 4.18, while an amount of 4.185 would be rounded up to 4.19. The accompanying table (left) gives, across the top row, the rate at which each of the member currencies translates into euros. The rest of the table gives estimated rates at which each of the member currencies convert into each of the others'. For example, one pound equals roughly 51.2211 Belgian francs.

These rates are for information purposes only, as under the euro rules, to translate from one currency to other, the calculation must be down via the euro - in other words the first currency must be translated into euros and the euro amount then translated into the second currency. To get a precise answer this must be rounded to three decimal points.

For example, to translate £100 into deutschmarks, the £100 must first be translated as 126.974, by dividing £100 by the conversion rate, which is 0.787564.

Then this euro sum must be translated into deutschmarks by multiplying the euro amount by the fixed euro/DM rate of 1.95583. This gives a result of DM 248.340.