Vol. 532 No. 4
71 Mr. Quinn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she will make a statement on the outcome of her recent meeting with the European Commissioner for Economic and Social Affairs, Mr. Pedro Solbes. [7118/01]
I accepted an invitation to speak at the EMU Awareness Campaign's National Euro Conference in Loughrea on February 19. This conference was an important medium to highlight the need for enterprises to carefully but urgently plan and implement their euro changeover strategies, if they have not done so already. The conference was held in Loughrea because my Department funded a euro related business project there that was unique among the countries preparing for the changeover to euro trading.
Because of the conference's importance in highlighting euro related business issues, both in a national and European context, Commissioner Solbes accepted a similar invitation to address the conference on the topic of EMU: What It Means For Business In Europe.
The Commissioner and I took the opportunity to have a very useful informal exchange of views on the importance of businesses being prepared for the euro changeover, and I thanked him for his support for the Loughrea conference. We also exchanged views on our shared goals in economic and monetary union and I underlined the value Ireland places on that project.
Question No. 72 answered with Question No. 48.
