Many retailers are encouraging consumers to "spend, spend, spend" the last of their pounds before January 1st. However, New Year's Eve revellers should keep enough of the old currency for a taxi fare home, as ATM machines across the State will shut down at 1.30 a.m.
Cashpoints will come back into operation on a phased basis throughout New Year's Day, with 80 per cent expected to be up and running by the close of business, dispensing mostly €10 and €20 notes. Laser and credit card will have already switched to the euro at 4 a.m.
However, in at least one town, the pound is as good as dead already. Loughrea in Co Galway put itself forward as euro "test bed" back in 1999, when 30 businesses were selected to take part in what was described as an "accelerated" changeover to the new currency.
Mr Kevin Glynn was involved in the experiment as president of the Loughrea Chamber of Commerce and knows what could go wrong. He is now managing director of Oasis Information Systems, helping to ensure that retailers in the west are euro-compliant.
Mr Glynn said it was vital that retailers had a realistic estimate of how many euros they would need for the first few days, when too few euro coins could starve the system of change. "A disaster would be not having enough euros to give out and having to return Irish money back into the system."
Another potential problem could be electronic point of sales systems, which could fail if they had not been tested and found to be euro-complaint. While faults were usually easy to sort out, he said experts would be under severe pressure in the new year.
Mr Glynn said retailers who had done "a little bit of homework" on the euro would find the transition simple. However, this was unlikely to be the case throughout the State. "I've met a lot of people who say they haven't done anything much about 'that euro thing'. There are still people out there who really haven't looked at it yet," he said.
A Loughrea retailer, Mr Gerard Dervan, of Bernard Dervan & Co clothing store, said staff confidence in handling the new currency was vital. "Confidence instils confidence. If staff are not comfortable people sense that and query every little thing. There are going to be glitches and I'm sure there will be businesses that regret not having put more thought into planning," he said.
Meanwhile, a steady stream of people are calling into the European Consumer Information Centre in Dublin with queries. Its manager, Ms Tina Leonard, said consumers had become "hypersensitive" about prices this year, with daily complaints of overcharging.
"We tell them the best way to safeguard yourself against being ripped off is knowledge," she said. She said a surprising number of people had asked how many cents there were in an euro. She recommended people get a feel for its value immediately by studying receipts and dual price tags.
"When you've got no choice but to get used to something you do it and we all are pretty adaptable. There's nothing to be afraid of. Pretty soon we'll be calling the euro notes fivers and tenners."
While most people calling into the centre were concerned with being ripped off, Ms Leonard said consumers would appreciate the benefits of the euro when they travelled around Europe. In Paris this year, she had found dual-pricing made it easier to convert directly from euros to pounds rather than francs to pounds.
After EUR-day price tags may feature four figures: the pre-sale prices in pounds and euros as well as new prices in pounds and euros.
Many consumers are expected to be "confused, annoyed, suspicious and impatient" during the changeover period, according to the retail training manual Forfβs has produced. The consensus is that queues are inevitable and extra patience will be required to avoid outbreaks of "till rage".
Next Friday: Business This Week 2 will examine what visitors to the UK can expect, as many retailers there gear up to accept the euro