In 1971, Ireland decimalised its currency in parallel with the UK.  We did this because we were tied to the UK Pound at that time and, of course, all of our coins were minted at the Royal Mint in the UK.  Decimalisation also brought all of our coins back in line with the UK coin specifications, i.e. some of the Irish pre-decimal coins were different from their UK counterparts, e.g. the threepence and sixpence.  Both the threepence and sixpence were discontinued.

The twopence (2p) (Irish: dhá phingin) coin was the third smallest denomination of the Irish (decimal) pound. It was first issued when the Irish currency was decimalised on Decimal Day, 15 February 1971. The coin was minted until 2000. It was the third of three new designs introduced all in bronze, the others being the halfpenny and penny. All featured ornamental birds on the reverse.

1971 Ireland decimal twopence. The coin was designed by the Irish artist Gabriel Hayes and the design is adapted from the Second Bible of Charles the Baldheld at Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris..

In 1990 the decision was taken to produce the coin on a copper plated steel base since bronze had become too expensive. The steel-based coins are magnetic and, for some, it is a quick (and fun) way to sort the coins, i.e. use a big magnet to lift the 1990’s coins out of the mixtures. After reducing the size of the five and ten pence coins introduced in the early 1990s, the two pence coin was the fourth largest Irish coin, with only the twenty and fifty pence and the pound coin coins being larger in the series.

• The 2p coin, alongwith all of the other decimal coins, was withdrawn for the euro in 2000