Tomorrow is the last day shoppers can use punts and pence for their purchases, as retailers complete the changeover to the euro at midnight on Saturday.
However there are rumblings that some traders are beginning to take advantage of the new currency to increase prices.
Retail banks will still exchange Irish currency for some time to come and the Central Bank will give full value for Irish notes and coins indefinitely.
"Retailers no longer have to accept the currency from midnight Saturday night. On Sunday its euros only," a spokeswoman for the Euro Changeover Board said.
"You should use up your Irish money or else give it to charity but the public needn’t worry, the banks will exchange Irish currency for a time," she added.
The Central Bank will exchange the currency for euros indefinitely. But its only outlet is in Dame Street, Dublin, which may not be of much use to people outside the capital. For the record, the Central Bank’s teller service opens Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
At the close of business yesterday, 78 per cent of all cash in circulation in the State was euros, the Central Bank confirmed today.
The figure represents €3,397 million. The Bank also said that £770 (€978 million) was still in circulation which means that 79 per cent of all Irish currency has now been handed in.
To mark the passing of the punt, the Governor of the Central Bank of the Central Bank, Mr Maurice O’Connell, will formally hand over the portrait of Lady Lavery, - painted by her husband, John - to the National Gallery tomorrow afternoon. An impression of the portrait has been featured on Irish banknotes since 1928.
While the changeover to the has gone smoothly, in recent weeks claims of over-pricing caused by ‘rounding up’ prices have begun to emerge. Pubs, doctors, restaurants and launderettes were all mentioned in a critical appraisal by the Consumers Association of Ireland (CAI).
"Retailers seem widely to be taking advantage of the fact that as people do not yet mentally think in euros," Mr Anthony Coughlan of the National Platform said today.
And CAI chairman Mr Michael Kilcoyne recently claimed some prices had gone up 10-15 per cent. They are compiling a report on public complaints about over-pricing which is near completion and could be published as early as next week.
Last week a study comparing prices for identical products across the EU was announced by the Minister for Consumer Affairs, Mr Kitt.
"The floodlights are now sharply focused on prices throughout the length and breath of the Eurozone and any retailer who thinks he or she can exploit the consumer will have nowhere to hide", the minister said.
The Small Firms Association say they are confident that the introduction of the euro will not be shown to be a cause of inflation when figures are released next week.
"There hasn’t been any inflation caused by the introduction of the euro. The Budget in December would have put 8 per cent on the Consumer Price Index," Mr Pat Delaney of the Small Firms Association said today.
"Wage rates are increasing at three times the rate of our European counterparts and our minimum wage is 22 per cent higher than it is in the rest of Europe," he continued.
Mr Delaney also warned of the pressures high insurance costs place on companies, saying jobs have been lost and many companies are close to closure because the cost of insurance in Ireland.