As the Deputy will be aware, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has specific responsibility for providing information to assist businesses with their preparations for the changeover to the euro. The EMU business awareness campaign, which is managed by Forfás at the request of our Department, has undertaken this task since it was launched in December 1996. To date, the campaign has produced a comprehensive range of publications of relevance to all sectors of the Irish economy which are widely disseminated to Irish businesses throughout the country.
A survey conducted by the ESRI in December last, on behalf of the EMU business awareness campaign, shows that 72% of Irish firms have received information on the changeover and have expressed high levels of satisfaction with the information received.
On the retail sector, we are confident that the necessary information to manage the changeover has been distributed to retailers. Some 178,000 copies of "Getting Your Retail Business Ready for the Euro", a guide to assist Irish retailers in planning for the changeover, have been distributed by the Forfás EMU business awareness campaign on behalf of the Department.
This guide was produced in consultation with the Euro Changeover Board of Ireland, the Irish Bankers' Federation and the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs, and has been distributed through a number of channels: by post, directly to 40,000 retail outlets throughout this country; by a wide variety of retail organisations to their members; through the chambers of commerce, city and county enterprise boards, area partnerships and other organisations; by five of the main commercial banks directly to their retail customers; as an insert in a number of retail trade publications; and at presentations, exhibitions and conferences attended by the EMU campaign.
The guide outlines what will happen on -day, 1 January 2002, when euro notes and coins are introduced into circulation, and the specific role that retailers will play in the changeover process. It includes a checklist of issues to be considered by all retailers in preparing their own plan to manage the changeover, including how to convert Irish pound amounts to euro, dual display, dealing with dual circulation, staff training and advice on estimating euro cash requirements.
Additional Information.This is in addition to the significant amount of work that the Euro Changeover Board of Ireland has undertaken, and continues to undertake, to inform and educate consumers about the changeover.
The Central Bank's role with regard to public information mainly derives from a European system of central banks campaign, which, in the last quarter of the year, will be focusing on the detailed designs and security features of euro bank notes
With regard to dual display, in the survey conducted for the EMU business awareness campaign last December, 58% of retail firms indicated their intention to display dual prices in Irish pound and euro amounts by the fourth quarter of 2001. The initial figures from the campaign's latest survey indicate that this figure has risen considerably, with approximately 70% of retail firms indicating their intention to dual price by the end of next September. Additionally, there is the national code on euro changeover which the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Kitt, relaunched last December, incorporating the special logo to be made available to subscribers by the Director of Consumer Affairs. This is a national code of practice on dual display of prices and the minimum period of application of the code for subscribers begins on 1 October next.
Ultimately, however, it is the responsibility of each firm to ensure that it is able to conduct business in euro from 1 January 2002, and the EMU business awareness campaign can only assist in providing the necessary information that will assist firms to achieve this.
