I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time. In my Budget speech on 23rd April, 1968, I announced the Government's decision to change to decimal currency on the basis of the £, new penny system with effect from 15th February, 1971. As I mentioned on that occasion the weight of opinion had clearly come out in favour of this system and the Government, after full consideration, decided to adopt it as being the most convenient and practicable. Britain will adopt the same system on the same date. On 12th June, 1968, the House agreed to a Supplementary Estimate for expenses of the Irish Decimal Currency Board which I set up to facilitate the changeover to the new currency system.
The present Bill is the first of two which will be needed to give effect to the decision I have mentioned. It provides for the introduction of the new decimal system and coinage and for the discontinuance of the present shillings-and-pence system in due course. As indicated in the explanatory memorandum which I have circulated, a second Bill later this year will deal with other matters of detail. These are matters such as the conversion of bank balances, the effect of the change on hire purchase and other contracts and legal tender arrangements during the changeover period beginning on 15th February, 1971. The Decimal Currency Board is at present studying the matters that need to be dealt with in the second Bill, in consultation with the interests concerned.
Deputies will also see from the explanatory memorandum that most of the provisions in the Bill are technical provisions in relation to coinage. These follow the lines of provisions contained in the Coinage Act, 1950, which will be repealed. I shall comment briefly on some of the main new provisions.
Section 2 establishes the relationship between the £ and the new penny. The new penny will be equal in value to one-hundredth part of a £. Thus one new penny will equal 2.4 of our present pence, 5 new pence will equal 1s and so on. Section 3 authorises the issue of the new coins. As already announced it has been decided to issue six decimal coins. These are the
50 new pence |
: |
value 10s |
10 new pence |
: |
value 2s |
5 new pence |
: |
value 1s |
2 new pence |
: |
value 4.3d |
1 new penny |
: |
value 2.4d and |
½ new penny |
: |
value 1.2d |
The 50, 10 and 5 new penny coins will be cupro-nickel and the other three will be bronze. The new bronze coins will be lighter and easier to handle than the present bronze coins. The Bill does not prescribe details of the designs for the new coins. It is the practice for the Minister for Finance to do this by regulations. I announced the designs for the new coins a few months ago. Copies of an illustrated leaflet showing the design decided upon are available in the Library.
The legal tender limits set out in section 8 of the Bill are higher than those for the present coins. The 50 new penny coin will be legal tender for payment of amounts up to £10. This is appropriate in view of the high value of the coin—10s in present currency. The limits for the other coins are also being increased to bring them into line with present-day conditions. The 5 new penny and 10 new penny coins will be legal tender for amounts up to £5 while existing silver coins are legal tender for only £2. The legal tender limit for bronze decimal coins will be 20 new pence—4 shillings in present currency—as against 1/- for the present copper coins.
The Decimal Currency Board has recommended that some of the new coins should be issued in advance of 15th February, 1971 so that people can become accustomed to them before the changeover date. Sections 9 and 10 of the Bill would allow the Central Bank to issue the 5, 10 and 50 new penny coins in this way. These coins have exact equivalent values in £sd and can be used in these values until 15th February, 1971. Subject to the enactment of the legislation the Central Bank plans to start the issue of 5 new penny and 10 new penny coins this autumn and to put the 50 new penny coin into circulation early next year.
Deputies will note that section 16 of the Bill empowers the Minister for Industry and Commerce to make regulations prescribing how certain payments involving a halfpenny are to be varied when the ½d coin is demonetised on and from 1st August, 1969. The payments concerned are small premiums under industrial life assurance policies and payments under friendly society contracts. A large number of such payments involve an odd ½d. It is necessary to have a statutory provision to prescribe how these contractual payments are to be adapted to the new situation. Section 16 will enable the Minister for Industry and Commerce to ensure that the total amount payable over a period will be maintained constant in each case.
Information about the business and other preparations needed for the change to decimal currency has been published by the Decimal Currency Board over the period since its establishment. Copies of bulletins issued some months ago are available in the Library. Up to the present the board has been placing most emphasis on publicity measures to persuade the business sector to get preparations made in good time—in particular to ensure that accounting and other machines will be capable of decimal working. In general the response by businesses appears to be satisfactory. In this year's Budget I announced some special tax concessions in respect of decimalised machinery including a provision to allow "free depreciation" for new machinery purchased for decimalisation.
Preparations by the Post Office, the Department of Education, the other Departments, and the public sector generally are proceeding. The detailed instruction of the general public about the use of decimal coinage will be effected through an intensive campaign in the autumn of 1970. Thus it will be fresh in people's minds when Decimal Day arrives on 15th February, 1971.
In conclusion, I hope that any businessman who has been tardy about preparing for decimal currency will be stimulated by the passage of this Bill to take early action. The advantages to be obtained from the decimal system are well worth achieving and it is in everybody's interest that the changeover should go through smoothly and quickly. Timely preparations will ensure that this objective is achieved.
Perhaps I might also mention at this stage a question which has presented itself to the minds of some Deputies, as to why this is called the Decimal Currency (No. 2) Bill. The reason for that is that the first piece of decimal currency legislation, the Decimal Currency Bill, 1969, was introduced on the 16th April, 1969, and the Dáil was dissolved before the text was circulated. We must, therefore, call this legislation the Decimal Currency (No. 2) Bill.