The Central Bank of Ireland acts as an agent of the Minister of Finance in the production in the issuing of euro coins and all seniorage received is returned to the Exchequer.
The euro coin series comprises eight different denominations: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cent, €1 and €2.
The euro coins have a common side and a national side. The common side of the coins were designed by Mr Luc Luycx of the Royal Belgium Mint. His initials “LL” are visible on the common side of the euro coins. He was also involved in the design change in 2007, when the map of the Eurozone was expanded to incorporate 10 new accession countries, although not all were members of the Eurozone. The national side indicates the issuing country and is depicted by a harp on the Irish coins.
The edge-lettering on the Irish €2 coin is the same as the French design. It is also adopted by Belgium, Luxemburg and Spain amongst others.