Series B Banknotes

The green one pound note had a portrait of Medb, the legendary Queen of Connacht in Irish mythology. Also a pre-Christian geometric design based on those found on bone slips is used in on the note, the background is an excerpt from the Táin.

The reverse had a decorated excerpt from Lebor na hUidre, the oldest surviving Irish manuscript, with some red in addition to the dominant green.

The dimension of the notes are 78.0 × 148.0 millimetres.

The one pound note was removed from circulation from June 1990 as it was replaced by the Irish pound coin, this note was the final one pound note to be circulated and it was the first note of Series B to be removed from circulation.

The orange five pound note had a portrait of Johannes Scotus Eriugena, the philosopher and theologian, of the ninth century. The letter A from the start of Psalm 17 of the Psalter of Ricemarcus is used against the Book of Durrow.

The reverse featured an adaptation of animal and script extracts from the Book of Kells, an eighth century copy of the gospels.

The dimension of the notes are 82.0 X 156.0 millimetres. In addition to the dominant orange, red and brown is used on both sides of the note.

The purple ten pound had a portrait of Dean Jonathan Swift the poet and satirist. The background contains a reproduction of the coat of arms of Dublin from a city council resolution against a letter by Swift from April 1735.

The reverse had a portion of a map of Dublin which was published by John Rocque in 1756. Great Abbey Street and Astons Quay - now known as Middle Abbey Street and Aston Quay respectively are shown as well as the River Liffey.

The dimension of the notes are 86.0 X 164.0 millimetres. The note consists of shades of purple - three shades on the front and two on the back.

The blue twenty pound note had a portrait of William Butler Yeats, the poet, dramatist, and mystic together with a representation of the mythological hero Cú Chulainn, based on the motif used by the Abbey Theatre. The background is of a Deirdre, a Yeats manuscript.

The reverse had image the Blasket Islands, off County Kerry with the background of An tOileánach by Tomás Ó Criomhthain.

The dimension of the notes are 90.0 X 172.0 millimetres. The note consists of shades of blue - six shades on the front and four on the back.

The red-brown fifty pound note had a portrait of Turlough O'Carolan, the blind Irish harper and composer, with the background from Timbrell.

The reverse had a design based on the wood carvings on the organ loft of St. Michan's Church, Dublin.

The dimension of the notes are 94.0 X 180.0 millimetres. Using the red-brown colours it is set using five shades on the front and four on the back.

A Series B hundred pound note was never issued, the Series A £100 note remained in circulation. A design pattern was done for a £100 denomination, but it was not required by the Central Bank of Ireland. Although during the late 1970s some newspapers reported that a planned £100 note would have been Mauve in colour and would have had Grace O'Malley on the front, the Galtee Mountains on the reverse and the dimension of the notes in size 188 x 98 mm.[2]