Unofficial Issues
Various papermoney tokens have been produced in Ireland for use as a general currency in a specific environment. Some of these have been used as currency by the public.
The general strike in Limerick in April 1919 was in response to the British declaration of much of Limerick City as a military area during the Irish war of independence. The strike committee took over the administration of Limerick, and it was referred to as the Limerick Soviet shortly thereafter.
The strike committee produced paper money tokens in three denominations: 1 Shilling, 5 Shillings, and 10 Shillings. The notes were to be used inside the martial law zone for the 14 day duration of the strike.
These Limerick Soviet Notes were said to have briefly circulated, with all notes presented being redeemed after the end of the issue. Other references indicate that these 'Treasury Notes' may in fact actually not have entered circulation.
The banknote issue is a unique event in the history of Irish Papermoney.
During the Irish war of independence the British rounded up known Irish nationalists an put them into an internment camp at Ballykinlar. The camp was located in Abercorn Barracks in Northern Ireland. At its peak the internment camp housed several thousand internees. The camp was operated similar to a POW camp in that the internees had a certain autonomy over their own internal affairs. This included the issue of tokens by the internees for use as currency inside the camp.
The RO•MA tokens were produced in 1999. It was a local currency sponsored by local businesses, which circulated in Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo for 2 months on a pilot basis. The name came from ROscommon-MAyo.
www.irishpapermoney.com Version 3.0.3 Copyright ©2000 - 2023, M Mac Devitt.
