Euro exercises minds on its first Saturday night out on the town

The euro had a successful, if somewhat subdued, first Saturday night on the town in Dublin's Temple Bar. Fewer revellers than usual were spending money in the party quarter on the first weekend after the holiday season, but the new currency still found its way into the publicans' cash registers.

In the Foggy Dew bar on Fownes Street, head barman Mr Sean Cuthbert said a special "exchange point" had been set up to keep things simple for staff and customers.

Irish notes had to be converted to euro before any drinks were purchased although coins and cheques were not accepted. That job, he said, was best left to the Central Bank across the street.

Ms Jacinta O'Brien from Sydney suggested the notes should be plastic. "Otherwise they get all soggy in the bar," she said.

Ms O'Brien was speaking from experience as she had been working in another Temple Bar pub on New Year's Day, when the euro became legal tender. "Of all the days to do it, when everybody has a hangover," she said.

Ms Barbara Finigan from Dundalk was in the queue for the cashpoint in Temple Bar Square. She liked the euro notes but found the coins a little awkward to distinguish from each other, "especially when alcohol is consumed".

In the Oliver St John Gogarty pub on Fleet Street, Scotsman Mr Andy O'Brien was purchasing pints with the new money. He said he would probably feel a little more on the outskirts of Europe when he returned home to Glasgow. "But we can use it in posh places like Marks & Spencer," he said.

It took an English reveller to sound a note of eurosceptism. Ms Judith Dawkins from Hereford was not in any hurry for Britain to sign up."You expect to use a different currency when you go to another country. I'm quite happy to keep my own money," she said.