Fifteen years since the euro was introduced to replace the Irish punt there is still almost €230 million (IR£180 million) in “old money” missing. The Central Bank is not expecting much of it to be accounted for any time soon, if ever.

Despite the passing of nearly a decade and a half, the Central Bank says old notes and coins are still being found in the same places – buried in the garden, at the back of the couch and under the mattress.

Often an elderly relative may have had money up in the attic or in old containers, sometimes discovered only after their death. In a few cases money was found behind old wallpaper or in cards which became forgotten gifts.

Some people have been keeping the old money as a souvenir but most of the total is believed to have been lost or mislaid.

Decreases

However, some people are still going to the Central Bank to exchange pounds for euro, but each year the amount decreases. Just before the new currency became the daily currency, just under €4.732 billion worth of Irish pounds was withdrawn from circulation.

By the end of 2002, the first full year the euro was in operation, 90 per cent of Irish pounds had been withdrawn, which left just under €463 million unaccounted for by the Central Bank. The latest figures show almost half of that total is still out there.

In the first nine months of 2015, a total of IR£872,682 was exchanged for some €1.1 million. It is the first year in which less than IR£1 million (€1.27 million) has been returned.

Redeemed

In 2014, the public redeemed just under €1.47 million while in 2010 the figure was €2.84 million.

In the foyer of the bank’s headquarters on Dublin’s Dame Street, a safe-like machine takes coins, issues a receipt, which is then presented to a teller for payment of the equivalent in euro. Notes are exchanged at the counter.

The notes are chopped up and recycled while the coins are melted down to their constituent metals for re-use.

The 1 cent and 2 cent euro coins being returned to the Central Bank, as part of the recent voluntary rounding-up scheme, are not being melted down, because they remain legal tender and the bank wants to ensure that these coins “are available as required”.

Lodgements to the Central Bank have been “minimal” but a spokeswoman said lodgements of the coins to banks and cash in transit companies have increased.

Almost 1.1 billion 2 cent coins are in circulation, worth €21.9 million while 1.38 billion 1 cent coins worth €13.8 million have been issued.

A 1 cent coin costs 1.65c to produce while a 2 cent coin costs 1.94c.