Skip to main content
Normal View

Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 12 Nov 1997

Vol. 482 No. 6

Written Answers. - EMU Changeover.

Joe Higgins

Question:

265 Mr. Higgins (Dublin West) asked the Minister for Finance the number of officials of his Department who will be employed in, or seconded to, the Euro Currency Changeover Board; when the board will be fully staffed; his views on whether these arrangements will be adequate for the tasks of preparing for the changeover to the euro; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18648/97]

My Department published EMU and the euro: Ireland's National Changeover Plan in May this year. The plan states that assuming that the European Council confirms in 1998 that Ireland fulfils the necessary conditions for adoption of the euro, a currency changeover board will be established after the European Council's decision in order to oversee the detailed implementation of the changeover.

In April this year, the Government decided that the maximum staffing level of the board should be 20. My Department established a euro changeover team in June,inter alia, to prepare the ground for the board. Seven staff are on the team at present.
The changeover timetable agreed by the European Council in December 1995 envisages that the changeover to the euro in member states participating in EMU will have been completed by 1 July 2002 at the latest. The Currency Changeover Board will be dissolved on completion of the changeover in Ireland. It is expected that the board's full complement of staff will be in place shortly after the European Council's decision, which is expected in early May 1998.
As the Deputy will be aware, preparation of the Irish economy, including the public administration, for the changeover is already well under way. I am satisfied that the arrangements which have already been put in place, combined with the setting up of the Currency Changeover Board with a maximum staffing level of 20 in line with the Government decision, will be adequate to provide for a smooth and orderly changeover to the euro.
Top
Share