Britain and Ireland did not suffer from the breakup of the sterling area in 1979.
From the economist.com
It applied sanctions and expelled Rhodesia from the sterling area.
From the en.wikipedia.org
Fearful of a second devaluation, many sterling-area countries this year have been busily selling off large amounts of pounds.
From the time.com
Why pay exchange rate charges and commissions on 90% of your transactions when you can reduce that to 10% for dealing with the sterling area?
From the guardian.co.uk
As far as UK law was concerned, Bermuda still remained a member of the overseas sterling area until exchange controls were abolished altogether in 1979.
From the en.wikipedia.org
We would tend to stay within the sterling area until such time as it is to our advantage to join the Euro and then we would only do it with the consent of the people.
From the globalspin.blogs.time.com
That's exactly the model Scotland and the rest of the sterling area have developed over their 400-plus years of currency union, which the SNP wants to abandon.
From the guardian.co.uk
On the 22nd June 1972, the United Kingdom unilaterally ended its sterling area based exchange control laws, hence excluding Bermuda from its sterling area membership privileges.
From the en.wikipedia.org
The second area of dispute is the future of sterling outside the single currency.