Vol. 502 No. 4
8 Mr. Quinn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the members of the national year 2000 committee; their qualification for membership of the committee; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8333/99]
64 Mr. Quinn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of times the national year 2000 committee which operates under the auspices of her Department has met since its establishment; the costs incurred to date in relation to its activities; its budget for 1999; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8332/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 64 together.
In early 1998, I invited and received the commitment of representatives of a broad range of relevant business organisations and State agencies to support the Government's awareness campaign and take part in a year 2000 national committee to oversee and advise on the campaign.
The role of the committee, the members of whom have given of their time on a voluntary basis, has been to advise me on campaign strategy and to report on the progress within the bodies represented and in the wider business community. Its members include representatives of groups which interact with small business on a daily basis and are therefore in a position to exert influence, for example, the banks, the accounting-auditing profession, the insurance industry and many business associations and organisations.
The committee has met officially on four occasions since its formation. The members of the committee have also attended many other meetings on this issue throughout the past year. With the help of the committee, a comprehensive brochure was prepared outlining the nature and implications of the problem and giving advice on how to deal with it. This brochure was circulated to more than 100,000 businesses throughout the country.
In addition, a series of seven regional conferences have been held to increase awareness of the problem, at which I, along with committee representatives, have impressed on participants the urgency of the need to address the issue. These conferences and a subsequent national conference in Dublin received wide media coverage. The total cost of the brochure and the conferences was £42,964. A further sum of £30,000 has been included in my Department's Estimate for spending on this issue during 1999, as required. Before the current campaign got under way, £10,000 was spent in 1997 on the production of a leaflet highlighting the problem. This leaflet was distributed widely.
In addition to this, the Government through the Minister for Finance, included a sum of £40 million in the last budget in order that the necessary resources would be available to ensure compliance across the public sector. In reply to separate questions today, I will give details of the £300,000 Enterprise Ireland awareness campaign which I recently launched.
The membership of the National Year 2000 Committee is as follows:
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Mr. Simon Nugent |
CEO Chambers of Commerce of Ireland |
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Mr. Dave Kerr |
County & City Enterprise Boards Unit, Dept. of Enterprise, Trade and Employment |
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Mr. Brendan Kirwan |
IT Manager First Active PLC |
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Ms Rosemary Sexton |
Enterprise Ireland |
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Mr. Eamonn Kearney |
Forfás |
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Ms Katherine Lucey |
IT Adviser, IBEC |
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Mr. Peter Lillis |
IDA Ireland |
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Mr. Robin Menzies FCA |
Institute of CharteredAccountants |
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Mr. Victor Hume |
IT Adviser Irish Bankers Federation |
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Mr. Liam Kelly,Mr. Tony O'Farrell |
Irish Computer Society |
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Ms Mary Kennedy |
Irish Co-Operative Organisation Society Ltd. |
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Mr. Michael Horan |
Irish Insurance Federation |
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Mr. Tony Smyth |
Secretary General, Irish League of Credit Unions |
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Mr. Cormac Maher |
Irish Small & Medium Enterprises Association |
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Ms Gerardine Jones |
Irish Stock Exchange |
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Ms Maébh O' Connor |
PKS Systems Integration (Ireland) Ltd. |
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Ms Kathleen Belton |
RGDATA |
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Ms Catherine Hogan |
Shannon Development |
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Mr. Jim Seaward |
Small Firms Association |
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Mr. Séan Ó Raighne |
Údarás na Gaeltachta |
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Ms Mairead McGee |
Vintners Federation of Ireland |
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Mr. Kevin Murphy |
IT Adviser, Irish Hotels Federation |
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Mr. Stephen Duggan |
Construction Industry Fed. |
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Mr. Eddie Byrne |
Licensed Vintners Assoc. |
I have not heard a list like that since I last attended mass. Does the Minister think a representative of the plain people of Ireland should perhaps be appointed to the committee, a housewife or house husband for example?
In terms of the Minister's reference to media coverage, some newspapers such as the Sunday Business Post and the Sunday Tribune have treated this issue quite seriously. However, there has been regular comment to the effect that there are concerns about the level of awareness in Ireland in regard to the Y2K problem, especially among small indigenous companies. Is the Minister confident that given the very short time available to deal with this problem, such companies will be able to address it? Is there any arrangement or central mechanism within Government to monitor progress on this issue in each Department or to monitor the way in which individual Ministers are ensuring accountability from agencies and organisations under the umbrella of their Departments?
If Deputy Rabbitte wishes to forward his CV to us, I am sure we might be able to include him on the committee. We are very grateful to the committee members who are very committed and dedicated to the task in hand. A number of systems have been put in place to ensure everything possible is done to ensure Ireland will be Y2K compliant. Reports are presented to Government every two months by the relevant Ministers on the organisations under their Departments' aegis, semi-State organisations, public sector bodies and so on. The Cabinet considers those reports.
In a subsequent reply, I will inform the House that Enterprise Ireland is carrying out a very detailed survey on the various companies with which it has been interacting and collaborating in recent months. The first quarterly survey for this year will be published next month and surveys will be published on a quarterly basis for the rest of the year. We have in place a major support system through Enterprise Ireland which we plan to operate into the early part of next year.
The surveys show there is a 90 per cent level of awareness of the problem. We are concerned about compliance from small and medium enterprises throughout the country and are doing our best to maintain pressure in this respect. At a conference held on 9 September 1998, we outlined 9 September 1999 as the date by which the first problems were likely to arise. We clearly signalled that if companies were not compliant by that date, they could be in very serious trouble by 31 December 1999.
Enterprise Ireland brought together the business development functions of Forbairt and An Bord Tráchtála and incorporated the relevant human resources expertise from FÁS's services to business function. Has Enterprise Ireland received any direction to deal with small companies? Small companies, supermarkets, retailers and the service sector are being excluded in regard to the Y2K problem. They will be left in the deep sea with nobody to help them. Will the Minister ensure the interests of small companies and business people will be addressed?
We have addressed that situation. I, in consultation with the national committee, have deliberately involved city and county enterprise boards which have been given the very important role of liaising with small companies. We have also instructed semi-State organisations, such as IDA, Enterprise Ireland and the enterprise boards that people should not be in a position to draw down any grant aid awarded since the latter half of 1998 or in 1999 unless they will be Y2K compliant. A condition should apply to any grant aid being given in 1999 and since the latter half of 1998 that unless companies are year 2000 compliant they cannot draw down the money. We have used every incentive possible and are continuing with a strenuous campaign which is constantly accelerated to ensure a focus on the smaller companies, about which we are worried. The enterprise boards are deeply involved in this matter at ground level.
There is little evidence of that type of programme being available in County Sligo. Several business people have said computer companies are speculating and selling software solely on the basis that they have to buy it. There is a lack of knowledge on the matter.
We have put in position various mechanisms, for example, a helpline, a website, training programmes through the enterprise boards for small companies—
It is not getting through.
—a directory of services and products is available and a second directory will be published shortly. Everything possible is being done. I will deal with this matter in later questions.
If the enterprise boards promoted and advertised their services in each county more people would benefit. The chief executive officers of the enterprise boards are extremely capable but the service is not widely known.
I will speak with the enterprise boards later in the week and will ask them to give a higher profile to the matter.
Is the Minister aware that some of the more prestigious experts have recommended there ought to be some independent system of verification of progress? Is anything in place to deal with that point? Can the Minister assure the House in terms of the capacity of city water systems to surmount the year 2000 problem? To what extent is there a systematic pattern of big companies helping little companies as, for example, that pioneered by the ESB? Is that system operating in the private sector?
Responsibility for the semi-State organisations rests with the Minister in charge of the Department to which those semi-State organisations respond. For example, local authorities respond to the Department of the Environment and Local Government. A number of areas are crucial to the proper functioning of society after 31 December, namely, water, communications, transport, aviation, health services etc. The Government allocated £40 million in the last budget to ensure resources were available and that there would be compliance in this area. There is a strong targeted effort by the various Ministers, in co-operation with the various county managers and the chief executives of semi-State organisations to co-ordinate a system to ensure compliance. We are optimistic on the public sector side that everything will be in order. However, one never knows because embedded systems laden with problems and old systems can create unexpected and unknown difficulties. We will not know this until the situation unfolds.
We have looked at the question of independent verification. Enterprise Ireland has been given a clear remit to conduct a detailed survey which it is hoped will put pressure on companies to be compliant. We are pleased the ESB has adopted the SFA programme and have asked other companies, particularly the big corporates, which have sub-supply companies, to co-operate with them and ensure the smaller companies are brought along. We believe this is beginning to work.
I started to raised this issue with the Minister of State when I became spokesperson in 1997. I still sense he does not realise we are in the last year before the problem will manifest itself. There are some experts who say it will have started to manifest itself from January 1999 onwards. Does the Minister propose to hold a stocktaking conference or meeting to ascertain if people are prepared? If this is left until September or October I am terrified I will have to rescue him from a lift or that the country may come to a standstill on new year's eve. Already people are planning to fly all over the world and to do all kinds of interesting and exciting things. We might all be locked into offices, buildings, lifts, deep freeze units and so on.
The Deputy is making a statement.
I would not wish the Deputy or any of our colleagues to be caught in lifts as that would be a serious matter. I do not intend to hold a national emergency conference. I fully realise we are in the last year of this problem. I hope it will be contained and that we can comply.
Will the Minister of State come back if he happens to be in Brussels?
I would be prepared to come back at all times especially for Deputy Rabbitte. If I get an invitation I will respond forthwith.
The Minister does not have a good record.
I am confident that anyone west of the Shannon, including Deputy Rabbitte, who left would always be delighted to come back. The yearning is always there. Since coming into office I have not refused one year 2000 invitation, whether to launch a programme, to initiate a service or, to support or meet groups. I have done that throughout the country and will continue to do it. We want to ensure the public, business people and those who have responsibility are aware because it would be a disaster if anything went wrong. One company gone down is one too many. We will do our utmost to ensure that does not happen.
