PART I: Introduction; and Establishment, Tasks and Membership of the Board etc.

1. Introduction This report covers the period 1 May 2001 - 9 February 2002 and is in four parts:
   • Part I describes the establishment and tasks of the Board, and its membership and that of its Sub-Committee, Working Group, Consultative Panel and Secretariat;
   • Part II deals with the Board's activities as regards implementation of the changeover to the euro, and covers legislation at national and EU level, public sector preparations and monitoring of the key organisations' preparations for the changeover;
   • Part III deals with the Board's activities as regards public information;
   • Part IV describes how the changeover actually went.

   Appendixes list the members of the Board, its Sub-Committee, Working Group, Consultative Panel, Single Currency Officers Team (SCOT), Network of Departments dealing with low-awareness clients and Secretariat; give a chronology of the Board's main activities during the year; list legislation dealing with the euro; list organisations in the Board's 2000/2001 and 2001/2002 Non-Governmental Organisations Programmes; provide a statement of expenditure; give statistics on distribution of information material; and provide an outline chronology of euro-related events 1992-2002.

2. Establishment and Tasks of the Board The Euro Changeover Board of Ireland was established by the Minister for Finance, Mr Charlie McCreevy TD, on 5 May 1998. Its establishment followed the decision by European Union Heads of State or Government on 2 May 1998 that Ireland and ten other Member States qualified to form an Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and adopt a single currency, the euro, from 1 January 1999. (Greece adopted the euro from 1 January 2001). The Board had two basic tasks:
   • to oversee the detailed implementation of the changeover to the euro; and
   • to provide public and consumer information.

   The Board's first annual report covered the period from its establishment to 30 April 1999. Its second annual report covered the period 1 May 1999 to 30 April 2000 and its third covered the period 1 May 2000 to 30 April 2001. This is the Board's fourth and final annual report and covers the period 1 May 2001 to 9 February 2002.

3. Membership of the Board The Board included representatives from a wide range of organisations across Irish society. Its membership is set out at Appendix 1. The Board met eight times in the period of this report and twice afterwards, to review the cash changeover and approve this final report. The Board's final meeting was on 13 March 2002.

4. Sub-Committee and Working Group The Board had a Sub-Committee and a Working Group. The Information Sub-Committee was established in 1998 to provide a forum for exchange of information among the major information providers, to help develop the Board's information campaign and to cooperate in disseminating the Board's information materials. The Information Sub-Committee met five times during the period covered by this report.

   In May 1999 the Board set up a Cash Changeover Working Group to produce a draft plan for the changeover to euro cash in 2002. The Working Group superseded the Retail Sub-Committee established by the Board in 1998. The Working Group's membership was drawn from the organisations most closely involved in implementing the cash changeover and it met 20 times in the period of this report.

   The membership of the Sub-Committee and the Working Group is set out at Appendix 2.

5. Consultative Panel In 1998, the Board also established a Consultative Panel, of representatives of organisations representing people likely to have special needs in the context of the changeover to the euro. The Panel's functions were to inform the Board about these needs, to advise on how they should be addressed and to act as a channel for disseminating information. The Panel met five times during the period covered by this report and its membership is set out at Appendix 2.

6. SCOT, and Departments' Network The Board's Secretariat also provided the Chair and Secretariat to the Government Departments' Single Currency Officers Team (SCOT), set up in 1995 to coordinate the public sector's preparations for the changeover. Also, in 2000 the Board established a Network of representatives from Departments dealing with groups at risk of low awareness. The membership of SCOT, and the Departments represented on the Network, are listed at Appendix 2.

7. Secretariat to the Board The Department of Finance provided the Chairperson of and the Secretariat to the Board. These are listed at Appendix 3, which also shows how the Secretariat was organised.

8. Premises The Board's premises were at 15 Lower Hatch Street, Dublin 2.

9. Dissolution of the Board Following its adoption of this final report, the Board was dissolved by the Minister.

ECBI Fourth Annual Report - Executive Summary
Part II: Overseeing the detailed implementation of the changeover

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