Consumers in the Republic of Ireland will begin receiving cash change rounded to the nearest 5 cent from Wednesday, October 28th,2015.
The move is part of Ireland’s rounding initiative, which aims to reduce the use of 1 cent and 2 cent coins.
The rounding will only apply to cash payments with the total amount of any bill being rounded up or down to the nearest 5 cent mark. This will be done on a voluntary basis and 1 cent and 2 cent coins will remain legal tender.
Wednesday’s roll-out of the plan follows on from the successful trial conducted by the National Payments Plan in Wexford in 2013 which showed 85 per cent of consumers and 100 per cent of retailers in Wexford welcomed the national rounding of cent coins in Ireland.
The cost of producing these small coins exceeds their face value – a 1 cent coin costs 1.65 cent to produce while a 2 cent coin costs 1.94 cent.
Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, Finland, Holland and Sweden have already adopted a symmetrical rounding policy on smaller coins.
What will happen the 1c and 2c cent sweets !!
