Green Party wins reprieve for old punt notes from landfill sites

The Central Bank has bowed to pressure from the Green Party to examine ways in which the old punt notes could be shredded, compacted and sold off as briquettes or sold as souvenirs.

At present the punts are being dumped by the State in landfill sites.

At the time of the euro changeover there was an estimated £4 billion worth of notes in circulation. Much of that has already been disposed of in landfills.

But the Central Bank said a significant quantity had yet to be dumped. It is still regularly receiving old notes.

Green Party TD Mr Trevor Sargent said the dumping by the State of its old currency is symbolic of the "out of sight out of mind" approach to waste disposal in the Republic.

"The landfill situation in Ireland is chronic at the moment," he said.

"And we feel it should not be added to by the State dumping something with as much sentimental value as the old punts. It is hugely symbolic."

Mr Sargent wrote to Finance Minister Mr McCreevy recently suggesting the alternative uses for the notes, and has been assured by him that the Central Bank will "take another look" at alternative means of disposal.

Mr McCreevy said similar attempts to dispose of old notes by other countries met with limited success in the past. Because of that the Central Bank has seen little benefit in devoting limited resources to trying out such a market here, he said.

"However, they inform me they will take another look at the matter," Mr McCreevy said.

Mr Neill Whorisky, a spokesman for the Central Bank, said it was "always open to ideas" about alternative ways of disposing of old notes.

"If anybody was to come and approach us with an idea about disposing of the notes, even in briquette form, that is something we would examine. We don't particularly have a policy on this or any objections to it."

Immediately after the euro changeover some notes were shredded, compacted into briquettes and donated to the St Vincent de Paul Society for use as fuel. The process was discontinued because it was "not feasible", he said.