Section 121 of the Central Bank Act, 1989, is hereby amended by the addition of the following subsection after subsection 3:

"(4) The Central Bank may continue to redeem Irish pound notes issued under section 44 of the Central Bank Act, 1971, or any other note which was, immediately prior to the earlier operative date (within the meaning assigned by section 9 of the Economic and Monetary Union Act, 1998) or, where there is no such date, the 30th day of June, 2002, a legal tender note in the State and issued under the Currency Act, 1927, or under any subsequent Act.".