Vol. 485 No. 4
129 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance if the computer programmes in use in his Department currently use a two digit year code or a four digit year code; if it is the former, the steps, if any, being taken to examine each line of computer programme in use in his Department to convert two digit to four digit codes to cope with the identification of the Year 2000; and, if so, when this conversion will be complete. [23483/97]
All recent IT development in my Department has taken account of Year 2000 requirements and makes use of four digit year codes in its date formats. Some older computer applications still use two digit year codes and these were identified in an exercise conducted earlier this year, which resulted in the production of a Year 2000 Compliance Plan for the Department. The plan quantified the effort involved in making such software Year 2000 compliant and work has already commenced on this project. It is anticipated that the necessary remedial work will be completed by early 1999.
In the meantime, along with all Government Departments, my Department will be providing quarterly progress reports to the Interdepartmental Year 2000 Monitoring Committee, which was recently established to oversee the achievement of Year 2000 compliance for IT systems and other office equipment in the Civil Service. The committee, which is chaired by my Department, comprises twelve members, eight civil servants and four members appointed by me from the private sector, and will report quarterly to Government on progress on this matter.
130 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance the number of lines of computer code in use in his Department and in each agency under its aegis. [23498/97]
This information is not recorded by my Department, as it has no relevance to the way in which its IT services are provided. Software development is conducted almost exclusively through the medium of Fourth Generation Languages (4GLs) and operated on PC networks, where lines of code are not a yardstick by which the speed or efficiency of the software is measured. The same holds true for the other offices for which I am responsible, with the exception of the Revenue Commissioners and the Office of Public Works, where some such information is recorded for statistical purposes.
In preparing its Year 2000 Compliance Plan earlier this year, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners identified 1,400 mainframe programmes, totalling 2.5 million lines of code, which were not Year 2000 compliant. A further 1,650 programmes are compliant. The Office of Public Works has an estimated 286,000 lines of non-compliant code. Work is under way in both offices to ensure full compliance by 1999, as per a Government decision of 25 September 1997 on this subject.
131 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance if costs associated with computer programme reconversion for the Year 2000 will be treated as expenses or capital expenditure for tax purposes. [23506/97]
I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that, in general, expenditure incurred on improving or enhancing a capital asset is regarded for tax purposes as capital expenditure. In so far as the reconversion involves the improvement or enhancement of the software in question, the expenditure will be regarded as capital expenditure.
Where, in connection with computer programme reconversion for the Year 2000, capital expenditure is incurred for trade purposes, capital allowances will be available on the expenditure incurred.
Non-capital costs associated with computer programme reconversion for the Year 2000 will be allowed as an expense where the costs are wholly and exclusively laid out for the purposes of a trade or profession.
132 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance the current estimate of the total cost of adjusting all computer programmes in use in the public sector to accommodate the dating problem in the Year 2000; if he will give a breakdown of this estimate as between costs incurred in 1998 and 1999 as between current and capital costs, personnel and equipment costs, and initial conversion of programmes and the testing of the effectiveness of the conversion. [23508/97]
The extra cost involved in adjusting computer systems in use in the Civil Service to make them Year 2000 compliant has been estimated at £12.8 million. This is made up as follows:
|
£million |
|
|
Infrastructural upgrades |
4.45 |
|
Additional staff |
2.22 |
|
Overtime |
0.71 |
|
Consultancy |
5.42 |
133 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance if he will give an estimate of the cost of converting and testing computer programmes in use in his Department and in each agency under his aegis for the Year 2000 problem; and the conversion from the punt to the euro. [23515/97]
The estimated cost of converting and testing computer software, to ensure Year 2000 compliance, in my Department and the other Government offices for which I am responsible, is shown below. The figures quoted are those returned earlier this year to my Department by the offices concerned, on foot of Finance Circular 17/97, which obliged all Departments and offices to produce a plan to achieve Year 2000 compliance for their IT systems by 1 January 1999. The figures reflect only those costs which would not otherwise be incurred were it not for the need for Year 2000 compliance. They do not, therefore, include the cost of compliance which will be achieved in the normal course of events by the implementation of Departments' ongoing IT strategies, e.g. routine replacement of obsolete equipment.
|
£ |
|
|
Department of Finance |
241,000 |
|
Civil Service Commission |
Nil |
|
Houses of the Oireachtas |
23,000 |
|
Office of Public Works |
343,000 |
|
Comptroller and Auditor General |
Nil |
|
Ombudsman |
13,000 |
|
Office of the Revenue Commissioners |
700,000 |
|
Valuation and Ordnance Survey |
17,000 |
|
President' Establishment |
Nil |
|
State Laboratory |
Nil |
|
£ |
|
|
Department of Finance |
150,000 |
|
Office of the Revenue Commissioners |
480,000 |
