Clones man behind ‘Embrace the Punt’ forced to emigrate despite success

As we've been reporting Clones' attempt to get the Punt working for us again is going from strength to strength, but the man who came up with the idea has been forced to emigrate to America.

In a sad reflection of the state of the nation the young man who came up with the whole idea of getting Punts in circulation again can't find enough work to stay in Ireland.

Ciarán Morgan is 21 and son of Lipton's shop owner, Tony. Together they decided to put in place the 'Embrace the Punt' scheme in the town, which has proved hugely popular.

However, just as Tony was depositing £948 taken in the last two weeks alone, his son was on a flight to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Ciarán has had to go to America in search of work.

The fact that the Monaghan town now accepts three currencies has not gone unnoticed and been widely reported across the media outlets. In fact several other towns in border counties are considering implementing a similar scheme.

Ciarán came up with the idea after he heard of a small Spanish village reintroducing the Peseta to boost its flagging local economy.

Many of the shops in the town now accepts your old Punts at an exchange ratio of €1.20 for an old pound.

Tony told the Irish Independent: "A shoe shop in the town had a man come from Armagh and he spent IR£110 on two pairs of shoes. The bulk of custom has been from people from the north of Ireland but they have come from Kerry, Meath and other counties.

The Central Bank thinks there is over IR£280 million still out there.