Shoppers will be able next week to buy their bread using punts. Superquinn is offering its customers the opportunity to get rid of the last of their old Irish money without the need to bring it to the Central Bank.
From next Monday until Wednesday the supermarket, which has 19 outlets - 11 in Dublin and eight around the midlands - will accept Irish notes and coins in payment or part payment for their purchases. People will not, however, be able to simply exchange their Irish money for euro. "They must make a purchase," a spokeswoman said.
Mr Eamon Quinn, marketing manager with Superquinn explained the idea for the three-day service came as a result of suggestions from customers.
"Quite a few said to us that they had found Irish money around the house, in old jacket pockets or under the couch. And it is a long walk to the Central Bank. We have the technology here to do the exchange so we thought, why not turn it on for three days?"
He said it would be "a bit of a bonus" for people and that there would be an element of "free money" about it for customers, more than a year after Irish money ceased being legal tender.
The Central Bank estimates there is about £336 million still unaccounted for. A spokeswoman for the bank said this was "not really a huge amount" given that they had gathered back 91 per cent of the Irish money that had been in circulation at the start of last year when the euro was introduced. Most of it was exchanged in the weeks up to February 9th last year - the date when Irish money ceased being legal tender.
"But it has still been coming in since in dribs and drabs," she said. "We have no problem with Superquinn offering this service if they want to."
The bank had no plans to offer such a service or any plans to recover more Irish money, she added.
Mr Quinn said the initiative would not mean branches of Superquinn would be full of people and would cause delays.
"No, we will have extra staff on," he said. "This is an idea our customers had and we listen to our customers. It will be good for business I hope. It's a bit of a novelty, a bit of fun, as well as being a useful service."
