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CNN Live At Daybreak

Ireland Adjusts to Euro, Britain Does Not

Aired January 02, 2002 - 05:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Europeans are slowly learning the ways of the euro. The new currency hit the streets in 12 countries yesterday. Ireland is one of the countries making the switch.

As Elinor Goodman reports, things are still a little shaky in the euro zone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELINOR GOODMAN, REPORTER, CNN AFFILIATE CHANNEL 4 NEWS: The British government has given itself 18 months to decide, but in Uri, two miles on the British side of the Irish border, the cash machines are already dispensing euros. The map on one side makes no distinction between the 12 countries who have adopted the euro and Britain.

UNIDENTIIFED MALE: We're all going to be on it very soon I am sure.

GOODMAN: If the euro is to become a parallel currency in the United Kingdom, it will in Uri, which relies on cross-border trade. Shops were accepting pounds, punts and euros.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is your first one?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's exactly my first one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My first one too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Five euros worth 3 pounds 20 p.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And your tea total is 3 pounds sterling, so you have 20 pounds of sterling in change. OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much.

GOODMAN: Over the border in the Republic of Ireland, it's slightly more straightforward. The euro will replace the punt altogether in six weeks. In the bookies, bets were being accepted in euros, but customers still prefer the punt. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think (UNINTELLIBILE) or the punt that was (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

GOODMAN: But along the road in Bruce's Tavern, there isn't the emotional attachment to the punt that there is to the pound. Drinkers are entering into the spirit of the new currency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Euro, punts, sterling, dollars, cents, it doesn't matter. Once the drinkers are here, we'll be happy.

GOODMAN: And the crucial question for anyone seeking the hair of the dog...

(on camera): How much is a pint of Guinness?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 10.85.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Euro.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Euro.

GOODMAN: I mean, is that any more than it used to be in punts?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Yes, it should be the same thing.

GOODMAN: Sure of that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

GOODMAN: Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have enough anyway.

GOODMAN (voice-over): The Irish economy has been booming in recent years, but now things could be getting more difficult just as the euro is being introduced.

(on camera): Euro skeptics believe that Ireland, right on the doorstep of Britain, will show the economic problems inherent in having a single interest rates policy for the whole of Europe. But pro-Europeans hope that now that the euro is established as a reality in the great majority of European countries, it will begin to gradually seek its way through British skepticism.

Elinor Goodman, Channel 4 News, Dundalk in the Irish Republic.

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