These coins were produced to commemorate Irelands Presidency of the European Community in the first six months of 1990. The Presidency culminated in the meeting of the European Council in Dublin on 25-26th of June.

The government decided to mark the occassion with the issue of commemorative ECU coins, there were three denominations issued :

• 50 Ecu Gold Proof   (5,000)
• 10 Ecu Silver Proof (50,000)
•   5 Ecu Silver Proof (50,000)

The 50 Ecu coin was the first Irish gold coin issued in over 340 years, the last ones being the extremely rare pistoles and double pistoles issued in 1649.

The 50 Ecu was issued in an official Central Bank green leatherette box with a certificate, however there was a problem with the box, the leatherette finish bonded with the cardboard sleeve which protected it and any attempt to remove it badly tore the surfaces of the box. As a result nearly 2,500 were sold only in their capsules and without certificates. The box for the three piece set also suffered from this problem.

The Central Bank in 2006 had a small quantity of boxes made to re-house the coins in their own archive, they got 100 boxes for both the 50 Ecu and the Sets, as this was the minimum production quantity they could order. They released the surplus boxes to collectors who had the damaged boxes with the appropriate certificates.

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