Decimal Day Board. Consideration was given to introducing a new major unit of currency worth ten shillings in the old currency: suggested names included the "new pound", the "royal" and the "noble". This would have resulted in the "decimal penny" being worth only slightly more than the old penny (this approach was adopted, for example, when South Africa, Australia and New Zealand decimalised in the 1960s, adopting respectively the South African rand, Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar equal in value to 10 shillings). But Halsbury decided, in view of the pound sterling's importance as a reserve currency, that the pound should
Penny (Irish pre-decimal coin) Penny (Irish pre-decimal coin) The penny (1d) () coin was the third smallest denomination of the pre-decimal Irish pound, worth of a pound or of a shilling. To express an amount, penny was abbreviated to "d", e.g. 1d, from the Roman "denarius". It was introduced in 1928 to replace its British counterpart, used when all of Ireland was a constituent country of the United Kingdom. The last year of minting was 1968 and it ceased to be legal tender on 31 December 1971. The coin measured in diameter and weighed 9.45 grams. The bronze coin was made up of 95.5%