Retailers in Dublin city centre yesterday claimed the 1c coin is in increasingly short supply.
Since the introduction of the euro around €300 million worth of the coins have been circulated, yet some retailers are finding it hard to source one-cent coins from banks and say customers are not circulating the coins in the usual numbers.
Mr Patrick Vermaak, manager of the Spar shop in Parnell Street, said yesterday the tiny coins were "scarce".
"We have had difficulty getting 1c coins since the end of last year. Some days the bank will have them and other days they won't," he said.
One retailer who contacted The Irish Times claimed he was told this week by a worker in the central currency office that there were none of the coins available.
A Central Bank spokeswoman said that, because the euro was a new currency, assessing demand for the different coins was "a bit tricky".
"However, we are doing well and keeping up with projected demand. A new batch of one-cent coins is being minted," she said. The newly minted coins should be available from banks early next week, and there was no question of the smallest and least popular euro denomination being phased out, she added.
Consumers are also being blamed for the shortage in some areas of the country. Before Christmas the Central Bank issued a reminder to consumers to keep the coins in circulation by using up their own personal stash. The campaign was viewed as a success, and tills were jangling with small change throughout the festive season.
But many people appear to be still hoarding the coins in jars, piggy banks and down the backs of sofas across the State.
The coins have never proved popular and can be found discarded everywhere from bus seats to the pond in St Stephen's Green in Dublin. They have been described as "hard to handle", which has heightened speculation that they may be phased out in time.
A Central Bank survey from before the introduction of the euro showed the average Irish household contained up to £27 in coins, as much as €34 worth in today's money.
One place where one cent coins pose no problem is Finland. Finnish authorities chose not to circulate the smallest euro coins, the one- and two-cent pieces , on the grounds that Finns did not bother with the Finnish coin of equivalent value, the 10-penny piece.