The bill which will mark the end of pounds and pennies and allow the euro currency's introduction was published by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, yesterday.

The Economic and Monetary Union Bill aligns Irish monetary law with the EU legal framework for circulation of euro notes and coins and provides for the setting of a date between January 1st and June 30th, 2002, for "the withdrawal of legal tender status from Irish pounds and coins".

Mr McCreevy said that the bill's passage would complete the domestic legislative preparations for the euro's introduction.

The 1998 Central Bank Act had already provided for the streamlining of the Central Bank's independence and its integration into the European system of Central Banks and the European Central Bank. The 1998 Finance Act had, he said, addressed the implications for the tax system.

It declares that, from January 1st, 1999, the State's currency will be the euro, and that the pound will continue to exist, as a sub division of the euro, until December 31st, 2001.

Companies which wish to denominate their capital structure into euros before the final changeover on January 1st, 2002, will be facilitated by provisions contained within the bill.

It states that from next January 1st, the Dublin Interbank Offered Rate (DIBOR) will be replaced by the European Interbank Offered Rate (EURIBOR).

The bill also provides power for the design, issue and sale of commemorative legal tender coinage. The bill's explanatory memorandum is available on the Department of Finance's Website at: http:// www.irlgov.ie/finance/indexemu.htm