These regulations specified the denominations, in the First Schedule, and, in the Second Schedule, the design, of the new coinage. The reason why this motion has been put down and why we in this party wish these regulations to come before the House is not in any way to express disagreement with the principle of decimal currency. Neither is it in any way to express an aesthetic point of view—an area in which we do not consider ourselves especially qualified—in regard to these designs, but to draw attention to what in our view is an entirely defective procedure in regard to the adoption, or I should perhaps better say, the settling of the designs.
If the House will bear with me, I will quote from the Irish Times of the 24th April, 1969 a report of a statement issued at a press conference by the then Minister for Finance.
Details of the designs were disclosed by the Minister for Finance, Mr. Haughey, in Dublin yesterday. He also announced that the Government had decided in favour of including a 50 new pence coin to replace the ten-shilling note.
The harp on the obverse will remain on all the new coins. Of the present animal series, designed in the 1920s by a British sculptor, Mr. Percy Metcalfe, the pig, the hen, the hare, the wolfhound and the horse will disappear. The bull, the fish and the woodcock are retained.
The new designs, for the new halfpenny, the new penny and the two new pence, are by the Irish artist, Miss Gabriel Hayes. She has based them on illuminations by mediaeval Irish artists. That for the new halfpenny is from a manuscript in Cologne Cathedral, for the new penny from the Book of Kells, and for the two new pence from a Bible in the National Library in Paris. All these are bronze or "copper" coins.
The five new pence, which will be worth one shilling, incorporates the bull as on the existing shilling. The ten new pence, worth two shillings, will have the fish, and the 50 new pence—a seven-sided coin—will have the woodcock, upgraded from the farthing. These three are cupro-nickel or "silver" coins.
The five new pence and the ten new pence coins will be the first to appear. They will be introduced in September of this year, and will be used alongside the existing shillings and florins until decimal day—February 15th, 1971. Full souvenir sets will, however, be available from early next year.
Mr. Haughey said he would have liked to have retained all the old range—he admitted fighting a hard but losing battle for the horse—but it was not practicable. None of the decimal "coppers" will correspond in size and value with any present coin, so there would have been a risk of confusion of values if existing designs had been used.
But the Minister did say they might be brought back if additional coins were added to the range in future—for instance something between the ten new pence (value two shillings) and the 50 new pence (value 10s).
We, on this side of the House, take exception to the next paragraph which reads:
The new designs came almost by accident. Official thinking had been to put simply a figure denoting the value on the reverse of the "coppers". Then Miss Hayes volunteered a design, it was liked and she was commissioned to produce three. Mr. Haughey said the Central Bank liked them, his Department liked them, the Government liked them. He himself thought they were terrific.
A few days later in a letter to the Irish Times the distinguished Irish sculptor, Mr. Oisín Kelly, wrote a short letter which perhaps the House would allow me to read because he is a man with qualifications which entitle him to speak. He wrote:
Coins, like stamps, are paltry conveniences and all one should expect from them is that they be decent. We have such a set of coins, modest and harmonious as befit their purpose and not attempting to carry a load of metaphysical significance too heavy for them to bear.
To break up the unity of this set and issue coins under two formal principles is barbarous and it is depressing to think that the Arts Council, which is our only defence against the barbarian, should have condoned this absurdity.
We have no peculiar right to Celtic art. Celtic art is a "heaven-ward leading" art and as such entirely incomprehensible to us.
The rest of the letter need not be quoted because it is not relevant to the point. In the final sentence Mr. Kelly said:
To use these hieratic symbols, which we can no longer read, for our huxtering is not only silly, it is impious.
Four days later the Arts Council, feeling themselves impugned by that letter from Mr. Kelly, wrote through their secretary as follows:
In your issue of April 29th Mr. Oisín Kelly condemns as barbarous the breaking up of the unity of our present set of coins and the proposal to issue coins under two formal principles.
The two formal principles are the retention of some of the animal symbols and their replacement with virtually abstract designs. The letter continues:
I write on behalf of the Council to say that they did not condone it. The Arts Act, 1951, under which the Council operates, says:
"The Council shall advise the Government or a Member of the Government on any matter (being a matter on which knowledge and experience of the arts has a bearing) on which their advice is requested.
At no stage has the Government or any Member of the Government requested the Council's advice on this matter.
I understand also that the Kilkenny Design Centre which enjoys a reputation for advanced and civilised views on design was not consulted.
In January of this year the then Minister for Finance attended a coin fair in the Shelbourne Hotel at which he made some further remarks about this new coinage. Mr. Haughey said:
Ireland has been the proud possessor for the past 40 years, of one of the finest sets of coins in modern use.
The Minister said:
the designs and sizes of the new coins were "not final and binding" for all time.
Those words by the former Minister for Finance give me hope that the official thinking on this matter is still flexible. The Minister continued:
Some had been made for convenience during the change-over period and when people had become familiar with the use of a decimal currency, it was possible that a completely new unified coinage might be designed.
These things ...had been the envy of many larger countries for 40 years and their retention was a mark of this high regard.
To avoid confusion, however, three new designs based on Celtic manuscripts had been devised by Miss Gabriel Hayes for the three new bronze coins.
I went to the Central Bank and got some of these bronze coins. I had to buy £3 worth of them. I proposed to distribute them to any Senator who wishes to see them—approximately 4s 2d worth—so that the Senators can have a look at them themselves and see what the designs are like when executed.