Vol. 541 No. 2
528 Dr. O'Hanlon asked the Minister for Health and Children the extent to which his Department is prepared for the introduction of the euro; if he will ensure that the replies to future parliamentary questions show all monetary values in euros and pounds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21898/01]
The Department of Health and Children has complied with the recommendations set out in the national changeover plan in that we accept and make payments, on request, in euro.
Our current task is to ensure that the Department and agencies under the Department's aegis are fully euro compliant by 1 January 2002. Two groups were established in order to ensure the smooth transition to the single currency in the health services, the departmental euro changeover group and the health services euro changeover group. The former dealt with the changeover within the Department while the latter was established in order to oversee the transition throughout the wider health service sector.
To date the Department's changeover has been successful with the payroll system scheduled to begin operating in euro from mid-October. Testing is continuing on the FMS, accounting, system which will be converted to euro on 1 January 2002. All other IT systems within the Department will be euro compliant by 1 January 2002.
The training programme for the Department will commence in mid-October and will consist of seminars for general information purposes. Front-line staff, that is, those in finance and accounting areas have benefited from ongoing training associated with the implementation of the new systems.
Every month there is a meeting of the health services euro changeover group. One of the functions of the group is allow the Department to monitor the state of preparedness in the health services as a whole. The group also acts as a forum to allow boards to highlight problems and to facilitate a common approach to the euro within the health services. We can report that the boards and the wider health services are on schedule with their changeover plans.
In regard to general issues, the Department reports to the Euro Changeover Board of Ireland each month. This includes a letter signed by the Secretary General outlining the current status of departmental plans. A memorandum is produced by the board which contains a summary of the preparations of each Department and is submitted to Government.
The Scot officer or his deputy from the Department attends monthly meetings in the Euro Changeover Board of Ireland. Similar to the health services euro changeover group, this group is used for information purposes and as a method of monitoring preparations across the public services.
