Central Bank of Ireland
The Central Bank of Ireland was established on 1 February 1943 as the State’s principal currency authority, succeeding the Currency Commission and assuming responsibility for the Irish pound. It remained the national banknote issuer through the final Irish-pound series and the 2002 euro cash changeover, and today operates as Ireland’s central bank within the Eurosystem.
Quick Facts
Institutional Identity
The Central Bank of Ireland was created under the Central Bank Act 1942, which established it as the State’s principal currency authority, dissolved the Currency Commission and transferred the Commission’s powers and duties to the new Bank. It is a public central-bank institution, not a commercial note-issuing bank.
For banknote cataloguing, the 1943 institutional boundary is important. The Lady Lavery design had been commissioned by the Currency Commission in 1928, but after the Central Bank was established the design was retained while the notes were updated to reflect the new issuing authority and to carry the Governor of the Central Bank’s signature rather than the Chairman of the Currency Commission.
The Bank’s historical Irish-pound role must also be distinguished from its present position. Ireland officially adopted the euro on 1 January 1999, while euro banknotes and coins entered circulation on 1 January 2002. The Central Bank of Ireland remains the national central bank and participates in the Eurosystem, while the Irish pound is now a withdrawn historical currency.
Historical Evolution
Ireland’s modern national note-issuing framework began with the Currency Commission, which introduced the Lady Lavery legal-tender series in 1928. On 1 February 1943 the Central Bank of Ireland succeeded the Commission and assumed custodianship of the Irish pound, while continuing the established Series A design under the new authority.
In 1976 the Central Bank introduced Series B, the first major replacement for the Lady Lavery family. The new series used figures from Irish literature, philosophy and the arts and developed through the decimal-currency era. Ireland’s participation in the European Monetary System in 1979 also ended the long one-for-one link between the Irish pound and sterling.
Series C followed from 1992 and featured major figures from Irish history. It became the final Irish banknote series created by the Central Bank before the euro. Irish-pound notes were withdrawn during the 2002 cash changeover, closing the Bank’s period as issuer of a distinct national banknote series while preserving its institutional continuity within the euro area.
Design Philosophy
The Central Bank inherited rather than created the original Series A visual programme. Lady Lavery remained the principal figure and the river-mask reverses were retained, but the institutional imprint and signature structure changed after 1943. For collectors, this makes issuer identity visible even when the core artwork remained familiar.
Series B marked a deliberate break with that inherited design. Commissioned by the Central Bank, it used Irish writers, philosophers and artists to give each denomination a distinct cultural subject while maintaining a coherent national series. The notes combined portraiture, historical references and increasingly modern security printing.
Series C developed the biographical approach further. Designed by Robert Ballagh around prominent Irish historical figures and modernisers, the series used smaller formats and stronger security features and became the final visual statement of the Irish pound before the euro transition.
For collectors
For collectors, the Central Bank of Ireland is a key institutional boundary in Irish paper money. Lady Lavery notes issued before and after 1943 can share the same basic design, so the issuing authority, signature and date must be checked rather than inferred from artwork alone.
Series B and Series C provide clearer Central Bank collecting structures. Denomination, issue date, signature combination, replacement or special serial formats, security changes and the progression from one series to the next are more useful classification points than treating every dated note as an unrelated type.
Placed beside Currency Commission issues, Central Bank notes document the evolution from a currency-commission system to a national central bank and finally to participation in the Eurosystem. That institutional sequence is as important to accurate cataloguing as denomination or portrait subject.