Paragraph (c) states “any other Member State of the European Communities with effect from the date on which the single currency is duly adopted in such Member State.” I spoke earlier of membership of a golf club. If one were a founder member of a golf club and went through all the expense, difficulties and tribulations involved in setting it up and a few years later a person wanted to join, he or she would usually have to pay I dare not call it “hello money” but something like that. That implies that if a person wanted to join a club after the founding members have done all the ground work, he or she would have to pay something extra. Would it be acceptable for the European Central Bank to adopt a policy towards a member state wanting to join the single currency at a later date – I am thinking particularly of the UK – of letting it know it would be very welcome but that it would have to pay extra fees at that stage?
Euro Changeover (Amounts) Bill, 2001: Committee and Remaining Stages.
With regard to what will happen when another country wants to join, rules on that are set down in the Maastricht criteria, one of which is that a member state must be a member of the European monetary system for at least two years. When a club is up and running for some time, its members, as in the case of a golf club, will rightly say that they were there from the start and abided by all the rules so new members will also have to abide by them. The rules are clearly drawn and defined. It is repeated ad infinitum by people as to what will apply to any country that wants to join. To put it another way, I am very interested in football, as Senator Quinn and others know. Special rules are often made for great footballers that do not apply to ordinary footballers. It will be interesting to see what will happen if a major player wishes to join the European currency in future years. I will not speculate any more widely than that.
I thank Senators for their contributions and for facilitating the passage of all Stages of this Bill through the House today, which means a great deal to us. I also thank the staff of both Houses for their efficiency in all the work they have done. I particularly thank officials in the various Departments and bodies which trawled through laws over the past 18 months to identify the money amounts that need to be changed, which was a mammoth task. I thank everybody concerned.
Those of us involved appreciate the work that has been done by all those involved in the euro changeover. The fact that we may query, criticise, comment on and urge the making of some changes does not in any way reflect on the well thought out work that has been done. I appreciate the response given to those of us who made representations. I congratulate the Minister and his officials on their work on this Bill.
I want to be associated with such sentiments. I thank the Minister for introducing the Bill. I am aware of the work done by the changeover board and Forfás. I hope it will bear fruit in the next six months.
I compliment the Minister on introducing the legislation. In their preparations, his Department, the changeover board and Forfás have done a good day's work. I compliment the Minister's initiative in ensuring those bodies are accessible and helpful to the public. Even though finance is serious business, his presence in this House always gives rise to a certain level of interaction without anybody getting—
Hurt.
—too hot under the collar, and I appreciate that. That may stem from his sporting and other social activities.