Responding to questions from Fine Gael's Brian Hayes, Dermot Ahern told the Dáil that, while the Consumers Association did claim that there might be a 1% inflation rise as a result of the changeover, the Central Bank did not agree.
Mr Ahern said that a study being carried out by Forfás would be definitive, but that social welfare increases introduced in the Budget far exceeded the official inflation figures.
In a separate development, a spokesman for the European Central Bank has said that attempts to counterfeit the new euro notes have mainly been limited to poor-quality photocopies. He said there have been several minor attempts to forge the notes and the discoveries have so far been isolated.
One of the biggest reported discoveries was in Italy earlier this month where police seized counterfeit notes claiming to be worth €25,000.
