Parnell sports red and green colours on new £100 note

THE new £100 note, introduced in Dublin yesterday, is surely a sign. It has to be Mayo to win the all-Ireland football final tomorrow. The note, designed by the artist Robert Ballagh, features Parnell and its predominant colours are red and green, those of the men from the west.

The date, too, was significant. It was Friday the 13th, and Parnell, who used to be an MP for Meath - the other county in the final - would have heeded such things. He was "a superstitious man," observed Mr Maurice O'Connell, governor of the Central Bank. So he apologised to the "Uncrowned King" for the choice of day.

As if all that was not enough, the Parnell on the new note looks the spitting image of the Tanaiste's adviser, Mr Fergus Finlay.

The resemblance worried the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn. He wished to assure people at "my favourite Sunday newspaper" that he had not arranged to have Parnell's features "skewed" to look like Mr Finlay. He also said that EU finance ministers would be enjoying entertainment at Kitty O'Shea's pub in Dublin next weekend, after their informal Ecofin meeting.

Then there was Ms Nuala Jordan, whose grandfather, T.C. Harrington, was a Parnellite MP. She had a copy of an uncashed cheque for $5,000, sent to Parnell by the "workers of New York". It advised him to do with it what he liked "either blowing it in on (sic) a good old drunk and painting the town red (!), or you can give ould Ireland (green!) a boost with the collat (sic)".

Mr Quinn believes that when his two-year-old son is eight, his pocket money will be in "euros".

However, it is heartily to be desired that between this and then, the inflation rate will nowhere resemble that which has occurred since the old £100 note was issued in 1928. Back then it was worth 30 times the value of poor Parnell today.

Dr Pauric Travers, of the Parnell Society, was pleased their man was "on the last bank note of independent Ireland". Mr Quinn might dispute the adjective.

In November, designs will be chosen for the new Euro notes, which will be used in all EMU currencies from 2002.