Irish Coins - depiction of a strong national identity

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Irish coins provide a glimpse into the rich and varied history of Ireland – a strong national identity which has developed through the invasion and domination of numerous foreign invaders throughout its history.

The Norman kings of England were the first to introduce a domestic currency to Ireland upon their invasion in the 1170s. Before the Normans’ arrival there is no solid evidence that the Irish made use of coins domestically, but foreign coins were used as part of external trade. Irish coins began to be made in Dublin and a number of provincial mints after 1170, making coinage a convenient method of exporting silver from Ireland.

Irish Coins and currency intertwined with British currency

Through the centuries the production and distribution of Irish coins has always been intertwined with Britain’s. From the 1820s until the establishment of the Irish currency, English money was also issued in Ireland for circulation. Until 1960 Irish currency was also accepted in Britain as pounds sterling.

In 1926 the newly liberated Irish Free State formed a committee for the establishment and production of new Irish coinage. Interestingly the chairman of the committee was renowned Irish poet William Butler Yeats. The sterling was decided on as the Irish currency. It was decided that the harp, the symbol introduced to Irish coins by none other than Henry VIII in 1534, would be retained as the national emblem on the coinage. The other side of the commissioned coins would depict animals important to the largely agricultural Irish economy.

The harp selected to appear on the Irish coins was a 16 string Irish harp, modeled on a famous harp stored at Trinity College, Ireland’s oldest university. Seven denominations were designed and cast, and the new currency went into circulation in 1928. The legend ‘Saorstat Eireann’ (meaning ‘Irish Free State’) surrounded the harp on the coins, which changed when the Irish Free State became the Republic of Ireland in 1937.

Decimal Day and the Euro renders Irish pence and shillings as antiques

In the mid-1960s the Irish government decided to opt for a new decimal-based currency in line with Britain, leaving behind the traditional pennies, sixpence and shillings. ‘Decimal Day’ was 15 February 1971, and these Irish coins and notes remained the currency of the land until the Euro was introduced on 1 January 2002.

Several commemorative Irish coins have been commissioned over the years, including a millennium pound coin and a fifty pence piece celebrating the Dublin Millennium in 1988.

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