Vol. 496 No. 6
177 Ms Clune asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the arrangements, if any, he has put in place in his Department to offset any adverse effects of the millennium bug; the effects the millennium bug will have; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23522/98]
In consultation with the centre for management and organisation development of the Department of Finance, my Department completed a year 2000 assessment and compliance plan last year. In August 1997 my Department set up a year 2000 project board, chaired by an assistant secretary, to oversee the work on year 2000 compliance. As part of the preliminary impact assessment my Department identified some of the systems as being non-compliant. Accordingly, remedial work is being carried out and some tasks have been completed. The year 2000 project board meets on a monthly basis to review and monitor progress. In addition a bi-monthly status report is forwarded to the interdepartmental year 2000 monitoring committee. It is expected that work on the non-compliant systems will be completed by mid 1999.
The headage-premia and export refunds systems are the main payment systems accounting for approximately £1.3 billion of my Department's total annual spend. Year 2000 work has been completed on the export refunds applications code and on systems dealing with REPS and structural improvement measures. Work on the headage and premia systems is at an advanced stage and should be completed by mid 1999.
