I was speaking about the concept of triangulation and the difficulties it entails. I concentrate my remarks towards small and medium enterprises. I repeat that for the benefit of the Minister of State, Deputy Cullen, who has just entered the Chamber. I have no fear for the public sector and the large corporations as their access to resources will allow them deal with Y2K; but I have serious concerns about the SME sector, especially its lack of awareness and preparedness and the extra cost which will be imposed on it by that. While triangulation will be a more complex system than at present, it will not impact on exchange rates as they will not vary. I would like the Minister in his response to address the questions I asked about Y2K and the compounding difficulty of euro compatibility in the context of the Y2K problem as it is important.
I wish to refer to another point which the Minister never mentioned in his presentation. It is the compounding difficulty of the year 2000 being a leap year. I would like some indication in his response as to how that fares in the preparedness of the public and private sectors. The date of 29 February 2000 will cause major problems in relation to dates. We now have three dates which will cause problems: 9 September 1999, 1 January 2000 and 29 February 2000. What is being done as regards preparedness and what difficulties are foreseen if people do not address the problem? Are the various consultants and individuals working in this area giving sufficient priority to leap year compatibility as well as Y2K compatibility?
Difficulties have already arisen relating to the leap year issue. A multi-million pound scanner in a British hospital would not work on 29 February 1996 because it could not handle leap years. An aluminium smelter in New Zealand lost $500,000 because two plants shut down unexpectedly when the process control computers failed to allow for the extra day. These are examples of what can and did happen in 1996, the last leap year. Multiply that by all the problems we could expect if people are not ready for Y2K and if the leap year problem is heaped on them as well? Will the Minister indicate what work and preparedness is being done in relation to that problem?
There has been criticism that Europe is way behind Ireland in terms of Y2K difficulties. The US is stated to be a year ahead of us in preparedness, but Europe is at least six months behind Ireland. Has the European Commission been negligent in this area and in alerting member governments to the various needs in relation to the Y2K question? What is our Government's view on what I think is a negligent European Commission in this area? What are the insurance implications for major systems failure, dose miscalculations, failure to extend credit terms or the collapse of companies because of Y2K failures? How are legal actions likely to stand up if serious problems arise from Y2K? Perhaps the Government could comment on that and on the work it has done in that area.
I mentioned event horizons. We do not have until 31 December 1999; the event horizon issue is already with us. Best before dates extend beyond two years in many cases of non-perishable goods, including blood supply, as do expiry dates on credit cards and ATM cards. We could all pick a particular selection. Will the event horizons be met? Are areas which involve projections or event horizons up and running in terms of their readiness?
Will our banks follow the lead of British banks and ask for Y2K compliance guarantees from their customers as a condition for continued credit facilities and loan sanction? Small businesses need to know whether the banks will continue to extend credit and loans to them if they are not Y2K compliant. The banks need to state their policy and whether they will follow their British counterparts. Conversely, will building societies, credit unions and the banks assure their customers that their money is safe and accessible after 1 January 2000? We need to talk about this and hear more about it generally.
Will the Minister respond as to whether he is satisfied we have sufficient human resources to resolve the problems given the demands which will be put on these experts by the public and private sectors? The number of individuals who have expertise in relation to the old COBOL legacy systems are few and far between. I have a feeling the limiting factor in terms of preparedness and readiness may not only be a money resource but a human resource in terms of physically fixing and adjusting computer mainframes and various other systems. Perhaps the Government could comment on what is available in terms of the human resources needed. As awareness increases, the demand for these individuals increases and it is only then people will realise that having failed to plan, it will be extremely costly to get the resources necessary in terms of expertise and consultants to help them complete their readiness for Y2K generally.
There are many other questions and areas into which we could go, but the Minister has been generous and I appreciate his generosity in relation to the time. The concerns are numerous and include the small and medium sized enterprise sector, sections of the public service and their particular readiness, the financial institutions and how they will handle their customers in relation to Y2K compliance, hospitals and the health services.
A recent expert study in the US went through the different areas where there could be difficulty in relation to Y2K compliance and failure to comply. If we transpose the study done in relation to New York city and wonder how ready Dublin, as the large capital city of this State, will be, we could ask similar questions. Corporation 2000 studied New York and forecast that the millennium will throw the city into chaos with powers supplies, schools, hospitals, transport and the finance sector likely to suffer severe disruption. Remember, the US is one year ahead of us in relation to preparedness according to the experts.
Corporation 2000 reckoned that in New York, a major city, 50 per cent only of the electricity supply would be available from 1 to 10 January 2000, that hospitals would work on emergency systems only for four weeks, that schools could be closed for four weeks, that the stock market and banks could be closed for eight days such would be the chaos, that 50 per cent availability of telecoms only from 1 to 10 January would be the prospect, that there would be ten days disruption of the postal services and that there would be 30 days disruption of transport, including air traffic control, rail and bus services. Picture Dublin with failure in even this menu of areas without going into a range of other areas which we could all pick as examples.
This is a serious issue of awareness. While I welcome the awareness launch today for the business sector by the Minister of State, Deputy Treacy, I hope it is not too little too late. I have not seen the brochure. It is certainly late but perhaps better late than never in relation to this issue. I compliment the public service on the work being done in the past 12 months, particularly the past six months, in relation to readiness and Y2K preparedness generally. I need to hear more on how euro compatibility will be married to Y2K readiness. That is a very serious issue. We need reassurances that the European Commission and Europe is up and running. We are told it is six months behind Ireland in terms of preparedness. Outside Europe, I hear Scandinavia is even 12 months behind that again. What does that mean for interaction and infra-trade for a small open exporting country like Ireland?
The list of difficulties and problems is there and we could all choose queries and problems. To borrow the words of an expert commentator in this area, there is no doubt that failure to plan is to plan for failure. I look forward to the Minister's response and thank him for being with us this afternoon.