Vol. 490 No. 1
40 Mr. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the special measures, if any, she proposes to take to safeguard Irish commercial interests in the aftermath of the change to the euro while sterling remains outside the EMU; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9714/98]
A number of measures have been taken to address the situation referred to by the Deputy. A report is currently being prepared for Forfás as part of the EMU business awareness campaign which Forfás is managing on behalf of the Government. The purpose of the report is to identify actions that companies can take themselves to counter possible adverse variations in the sterling/euro rate after EMU.
This report will be completed within a few weeks at which time its recommendations will be fully considered. The findings of the report will also have a wide distribution amongst businesses as they will be included as part of the information pack of the EMU business awareness campaign.
In addition to the above there are other measures that are being taken to safeguard the interests of Irish businesses, including the following: in anticipation of EMU, ABT has been given a specific target to lessen our dependence on the UK market and to increase the proportion of our indigenous exports going to continental EU markets by 2 per cent per annum up to 1999; ABT has also published an EMU guide for exporters which deals specifically with the marketing challenges and opportunities presented by EMU; the Forfás business awareness campaign is itself primarily aimed at SMEs and is designed to ensure that Irish business is fully prepared to meet the practical challenges of EMU.
Some of the foregoing initiatives are predicated on the possibility of a significant and sudden decline in the value of sterling. As the Deputy will be aware, we are far from such a situation at the moment and the possibility of a significant competitive challenge arising from a steep decline in sterling's value must be considered doubtful, at least in the short term.
