PART III: Public Information Activities

• Advertising Campaigns
• Direct Information Provision
     -  Household Handbook
     -  Electronic Converter
• Other Information Materials
• Information Networks
• Activities in Particular Areas
• Regional Events
• Training
• Materials for People with Special Needs
• LoCall Service
• Other Activities: PR events, talks, interviews
• Links with Forfás
• NGO Programmes

40. Structure of the National Information Programme The second of the Board's tasks was to provide public and consumer information. The Board did this as part of the overall National Information Programme on the euro, which it coordinated. The National Information Programme was in three parts:
    • the Public Information Programme, run by the Board
    • the EMU Business Awareness Campaign run by Forfás, the State's industrial policy and advisory board; and
    • the Non-Governmental Organisations Programme, administered by the Board.

    The National Information Programme was run in consultation with the Joint Information Programme Group, which consisted of representatives of the Secretariat, Forfás, the European Commission Representation in Ireland and the European Parliament Office in Ireland, and was part-funded by the European Union. When complete, such funding will have amounted to some €2.4m in total.

41. Background to the Board's Public Information Activities As mentioned in the third report, the Board had anticipated the increased advertising activity that would be needed in 2001 and had in 2000 secured advertising design and media-buying services through to the end of the changeover. In the period under review, the Board also continued its practice of regularly surveying public awareness levels so as to inform its advertising campaigns. Also as before, advertising campaigns were run via media and at times that, while reaching the public generally, would in particular reach low-awareness groups as revealed by the survey results. The Board was also conscious that the full extent of changeover information could not be conveyed by advertising alone: as before, therefore, it supplemented its advertising with much direct provision of information, and intensified this direct provision in the run-up to the cash changeover - indeed, much of its advertising in the last quarter of 2001 was aimed at advising the public to read the information that was being directly supplied to them. Finally, the Board accompanied both its advertising campaigns and its direct provision of information with other means of conveying information, including regional events, specialised materials and use of other organisations' networks. This Part of the report describes the Board's activities under each of these headings.

    ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

42. Phases of the Advertising Campaigns The Board ran its advertising campaigns in phases, designed to deliver specific messages to the public at appropriate times. As before, television, both national and provincial radio and press, and outdoor advertising were all employed, although given the Board's focus on low awareness groups, emphasis was put on advertising on television and radio and in the tabloid press. The intensity of the advertising increased during 2001 and culminated in a heavyweight campaign in October - December 2001 and for the first week of January 2002. A short campaign preceded the end of the changeover in early February 2002.

43. Advertising May/June 2001 At the beginning of the period under review, the Board was running TV and press advertising, with the main messages being the value of the Irish pound in euro and the date of introduction of euro cash. Advertising ceased during the run-up to the Nice referendum, which was held on 7 June 2001. A new suite of television advertisements commenced broadcast shortly afterwards, presenting the message 'a pound will get you one euro and 27 cent'. They featured well-known personalities and included advertisements in Irish and a signed advertisement, with graphical text, for deaf and hearing-impaired people.

44. Results of May 2001 Survey The Board had last conducted a survey in November 2000. It was clearly important to test the effectiveness of the advertising conducted since then, and the Board had a survey carried out in May 2001 for this purpose. The main findings of the survey were:
    • 95% of people knew the name of the single currency, the euro
    • 91% had seen prices in both Irish pounds and euro
    • 79% knew that euro notes and coins would be introduced in January 2002
    • 78% had seen pictures of euro notes and coins
    • 64% knew that a pound was worth one euro and 27 cent (up from 38% in November 2000).

    These findings were highlighted by the Minister for Finance in his speech at the Central Bank's Euro Information Conference held in Dublin on 20 June 2001. The increasing knowledge of the value of a pound in euro was particularly gratifying: this figure had stood at 11% in July 2000.

45. July-August 2001 On 1 July 2001, the Board placed an advertisement in national newspapers on the theme of "six months to go" to 1 January 2002. Early July saw the commencement of a new phase of radio advertising, on the value of the IR£ in euro terms. Television and radio advertising were used during July and August, albeit at relatively low weight, in order to keep the euro message before the public during the summer months.

46. Results of July 2001 Survey It was always clear that advertising would need to be intensified in Autumn 2001 and was desirable to have the most up-to-date data on public awareness levels in advance of the Autumn campaign. Accordingly, and despite the relatively short interval since its May survey, the Board conducted a further survey in July 2002. It showed that
    • 87% of people knew that euro notes and coins would be introduced in January 2002
    • 84% knew that the euro is made up of cent
    • 79% knew that a pound is worth one euro and 27 cent
    • 46% were generally aware of the length of the dual circulation period.

    The survey also showed that people now wanted to know how the changeover would work, how to convert and what euro cash would look like. These findings were published at the launch of the Board's third report and Euro Handbook in September 2001.

47. Surveys in October and November 2001 The Board commissioned further surveys in October and November 2001. These were conducted by telephone, rather than face-to-face as in previous surveys, in order to speed up the availability of results as 1 January 2002 drew closer. These surveys showed that general awareness levels and knowledge of the euro were continuing to rise as 1 January 2002 approached. The surveys also covered some new topics, such as the value of one euro in IR£ terms and how to convert from Irish pounds to euro and vice versa. The results of questions on how to convert showed that - not surprisingly, given the 1 euro = £0.787564 conversion rate - the majority of people were having difficulty in this area and vindicated the decision, described later in this Part, to send a euro converter to every household.

48. September 2001 On 30 August 2001 the European Central Bank (ECB) unveiled the security features and final appearance of the euro banknotes. The Board's advertising continued into early September but as the ECB in conjunction with the Central Bank of Ireland was beginning television and newspaper advertising about the notes from mid-September, the Board ceased its advertising for a time so that the ECB advertising could establish recognition among the public. However, from 23 September (100 days to go), a number of newspaper titles featured a day-by-day countdown to 1 January 2002 (€-day) on their mastheads.

49. October 2001: Advertising the Household Handbook As described later in this Part, October 2001 saw the distribution of the Board's Handbook to every household in the country. In view of the heavy investment the Board was making in the Handbook, its central importance as an information source for the public and the desirability of ensuring that as wide an audience as possible knew about it and read it, the Board advertised intensively about the Handbook during October. On 1 October, newspaper advertisements announced that there were just three months to go to €-day, while from early October onwards television, radio, press and outdoor advertisements promoted awareness of the Handbook and urged people to read it. The Minister for Finance appeared in the television advertisement with this message. A similar message on radio, press and outdoor advertisements urged the public to "read all about it" in their Euro Handbook and said that "if you only read one book this year, make sure it's this one". Other messages continued to run, particularly those on television about the value of the Irish pound in euro terms and the 1 January date for the introduction of euro notes and coins and the advertisements in Irish and for deaf and hearing-impaired people.

50. Strategy mid-October 2001 - early January 2002 It was necessary now to execute the Board's strategy for the run-up to €-day. The Board had five objectives in view. First, it was vital to keep urging the public to inform themselves by reading the Board's Handbook, distribution of which was completed by early November. Second, it was important to try to maximise the value of the Handbook in public information terms by urging people, when they had read it, to share the information in it with others. Third, with the changeover approaching, it was important to familiarise the public with a few basic euro values and with the appearance of key euro notes and coins. Fourth, there was the question of trying to influence public behaviour during the early days of the changeover itself - this meant focused messages in the last week of 2001 and the first week of 2002. Finally, although the Board was confident that the changeover would happen smoothly, nonetheless it was important to have in place by end-year a means of advertising, that would be already familiar to the public, that could be adapted at short notice to issue urgent messages in the first few days of the changeover if the need to do so arose. The following paragraphs describe how the Board implemented its advertising campaign with a view to achieving these objectives.

51. Mid-October - November 2001: Television Even before the advertising about the delivery of the household handbook had finished in early November, the Board launched from mid-October a series of so-called "top-and-tai1" advertisements which ran through to the end of the first week of January. In these, a question about the euro was formed in writing on the screen at the start of a commercial break, and the answer to it was given in writing at the end of the break. There was no voiceover, and the only sound was a light piano-style background track; the same track was used in all the advertisements so as to create familiarity with, and a sense of unity across, all the advertisements. The questions covered a variety of euro topics and as well as giving the correct answers, all the answer segments also pointed out that "the facts (i.e. about the changeover) are in your Euro Handbook". This advertising format was unique to the Board and its uniqueness helped to "brand" the advertising for the public. The flexibility of the format meant that the messages could be changed easily as time went on and new messages could have been introduced very quickly in late - December/early January had the events of the changeover required it.

    Other television advertising continued in November. However, the Board had decided earlier to switch from advertising the value of the Irish pound in euro terms to advertising the value of euro amounts in IR£ terms in the run-up to €-day, on the grounds that the public would need to be increasingly familiarised with the euro and euro values as they approached the introduction of euro cash. Accordingly, while the advertisements in Irish and for deaf and hearing-impaired people continued, Irish pound value ones ceased and greater weight was given instead to an advertisement urging people to use up their hoarded coin.

52. November 2001: Other media A new set of radio advertisements was introduced in November, on the theme of "euro your neighbour". These referred listeners to the Handbook they had received and urged them, when they had read it, to tell their family, friends and neighbours about the euro. The idea was to maximise the public information value of the Handbook not only by constantly referring to it and urging people to read it, but also by urging those who did read it to spread the information among their communities. There was an implied message in the advertisements, too, that people should pay particular attention to those among their acquaintance who might have less knowledge of the euro or be less able to handle the changeover - although recognising that groups are made up of individuals, the Board took great care not to categorise any group as necessarily less well-informed or less able. A final implicit aim of the advertisements was to create a sense of community and co-operation among people for the changeover: this aim was later made more explicit, in the advertising in late December/early January.

    On 1 November the Board placed advertisements in the national newspapers on the two-months-to-go theme. Newspaper advertising otherwise in November was limited and dealt with value and general awareness messages. There was no outdoor advertising.

53. December 2001 - early January 2002: Overall A wide variety of messages had to be communicated in December/early January: throughout the month, the value of the euro in Irish pound terms and the appearance of euro notes and coins, and the continuing need for people to read their Handbook; mid-month, the fact that starter packs were going on sale to the public from 14 December; in the last week of December and early January, what the Board wanted people to do during the changeover; and, just before €-day, a short refresher on all of these messages.

54. Television From late November, the Board introduced a new set of television advertisements featuring the value theme: a 1 euro coin is worth just under 79p and a 5 euro note is worth just under £4. As well as conveying values, these showed the actual 1 euro coin and the 5 euro note as a way of familiarising the public with the appearance of that coin and note, and of course they also referred viewers once again to their Handbooks. The question-and-answer advertisements continued to appear, with the difference that in the last week of December and the first week of January these featured messages from the Board's leaflet "The Euro Changeover: how we can all help", then in wide distribution, with a view to influencing the behaviour of the public during the early days of the changeover.

55. Radio Radio advertising during December also focused on the value of one and five euro in IR£ terms in the period up to Christmas. A special radio advertisement in the week beginning 10 December informed the public that starter packs of euro coins would go on sale on Friday 14 December. In the two weeks after Christmas, radio messages were taken from the "how we can all help" leaflet, and urged people in addition to be friendly during the changeover and allow themselves a little extra time to carry out their transactions.

56. Newspapers December's newspaper advertising began with a one-month-to-go message on 1 December. Value messages ran until Christmas, and "how we can all help" messages in the last week of December and up to 4 January: there were also special newspaper advertisements on 30 and 31 December (see below). A special advertisement was inserted in national newspapers on Wednesday 12 December alerting the public to the fact that starter packs of euro coins would be going on sale at financial institutions on Friday 14 December. A similar advertisement was placed in provincial newspapers in that week.

57. Outdoor Outdoor advertising is best suited to bold and simple messages and the Board used it sparingly. The run-up to €-day was an obvious period when bold messages were required. Moreover, the public would expect to see ubiquitous advertising about the euro and billboards are an effective way of creating a sense of ubiquity. Accordingly, the Board ran extensive billboard advertising for the first two weeks of December, on the value themes: a 1 euro coin is worth just under 79p, and a 5 euro note is worth just under £4. Again, these billboards gave the opportunity to show what the 1 euro coin and 5 euro note look like, and as always there was the accompanying message "The facts are in your Euro Handbook". The trademark bright yellow of the Board's advertising was well suited to billboard advertising and although the billboard sites were booked for the first two weeks of December only, in fact some of the advertisements remained in place to the end of the year and some even beyond that. Some bus sides were also used.

58. Special End-December Newspaper Advertisement With the changeover imminent, the Board, with the Central Bank, Forfás and the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs (ODCA), placed a special two-page advertisement in the newspapers on Sunday 30 and Monday 31 December. This showed the security features of the notes and the appearance and value of both notes and coins. It also showed the ODCA Euro Changeover logo and urged shoppers to shop where they saw the logo, and gave advice to retailers and the public (from the Board's "how we can all help" leaflet) on what they should do to help the changeover run smoothly. The intention of these advertisements was to provide a summary in a convenient format, one last time, of what the public needed to know for the early days of the changeover.

59. Advertising in the run-up to 9 February 2002 The Board ceased newspaper advertising on 4 January 2002 and television and radio advertising on Monday 7 January: the changeover was proceeding very satisfactorily and advertising about it after that would have been superfluous. The next challenge related to the end of the dual circulation period with the withdrawal of legal tender status from Irish pound notes and coins at midnight on Saturday 9 February 2002. Consultation with the Cash Changeover Working Group confirmed that the advertising message in respect of 9 February should be a fairly firm one: the representatives of retailers and financial institutions said they would prefer to cope with even a substantial influx of IR£ cash in the run-up to 9 February than to have to handle such cash in smaller quantities on an ongoing basis afterwards. Accordingly, starting on 24 January, the Board inserted advertisements in the national newspapers pointing out that legal tender status was being withdrawn from IR£ notes and coins at midnight on 9 February and advising the public to use up their IR£ cash before then, though mentioning that financial institutions would accept it for exchange or lodgement for a time afterwards and that the Central Bank would give value for it indefinitely. A similar advertisement was inserted in provincial newspapers around 31 January. The print advertisements each carried an image of an Irish coin with a message appropriate to the symbol on it, e.g. "after 9th February, it's a fish out of water" for the 10p coin. A similar device was used for the television advertisements that the Board ran from 28 January to 8 February: on one, the deer on the pound coin was seen to leave the coin and the voiceover pointed out, after a suitable message, that after 9 February "the buck stops". There was also a radio advertisement, which ran from 24 January to 8 February.

60. 10 February 2002: Thank You The changeover to the euro was a major national undertaking. Its organisation involved a great number of people in a wide variety of bodies and its implementation involved the entire population of Ireland. It was proper and fitting for the Board to express its gratitude both for the excellent co-operation it had received from those involved in organising the changeover and for the enthusiasm shown by the public in making the change; it was also proper for the Board to take the earliest possible opportunity to do so. Accordingly, on Sunday 10 February 2002 the Board published an advertisement thanking everyone for making the changeover go smoothly. The advertisement appeared in all the Sunday newspapers and was the last advertisement published by the Board.

61. Advertising by Others The Board's advertising was far from being the only advertising about the changeover, of course. The ECB in conjunction with the Central Bank of Ireland, the Forfás EMU Business Awareness Campaign, the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs (ODCA), the Irish Bankers' Federation and in the later stages CIE were also advertising various messages through various media. The result was that the euro was kept constantly before the public from September 2001 onwards and, in the final run-up to €-day, advertising about it was virtually inescapable.

62. Co-ordination among the main Public Bodies In order to maximise the benefit of the public sector advertising, the Board maintained close links with the main public bodies involved in advertising euro messages and issuing public information. A Public Relations and Media Group was formed with the Central Bank of Ireland, Forfás and the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs, and monthly meetings were held to discuss how campaigns were progressing and how best to co-ordinate media activity in order to maximise its impact. The respective advertising agencies also attended and ensured that advertising times did not clash. In addition, this Group was responsible for compiling the special joint two-page advertisement that appeared in the newspapers on 30 and 31 December.

    DIRECT PROVISION OF INFORMATION

63. Background: Household Leaflet As well as advertising, the Board always believed in the importance of direct provision of information to the public by means of distribution to households. Each year since its inception, the Board sent a leaflet via An Post to every household in the State, as detailed in previous reports. Indeed, at the beginning of the period of this report, the Board was in the course of distributing the fourth of its annual household leaflets, entitled "Are you ready for the changeover?"; distribution was completed by mid-May 2001. The Board made two further distributions to households, in October-December 2001, and these are now described.

64. Household Handbook The first of these two distributions was the Euro Handbook and was the largest single public information project undertaken by the Board. The Handbook, in the Board's trademark yellow livery, was in A4 size and contained 24 pages of factual information, telling the public (to quote from its introduction)
    • what the euro is, what it is worth and how to get ready for it
    • how the changeover to euro cash will work
    • what we can all do to help the changeover
    • what euro notes and coins will look like
    • what will happen about other items, e.g. foreign pensions, vending machines
    • what the key organisations will do for the changeover.

    It also explained how to convert from Irish pounds to euro and from euro to Irish pounds, showed conversion tables for standard amounts and gave contact points for further information.

65. Distribution of Handbook The Handbook was a key element in the Board's public information campaign and a copy was sent on an addressed basis to every household in the country during October and early November. The Handbook was also produced in Irish and the Irish version as well as the English one was distributed to every household in Gaeltacht areas. The Handbook was recorded on audio tape for blind and visually-impaired people. Copies of the Handbook were distributed to libraries, County Councils, public sector bodies and organisations from the community and voluntary sectors around the country. It was also made available on the Board's website, in English and in Irish. Copies were also distributed at Dublin airport and at ferry terminals in December 2001 in an effort to reach visitors visiting from outside the euro area and Irish emigrants returning from abroad. Copies were also sent to Irish Embassies abroad and to Irish Emigrant Centres in the United Kingdom. In all, over 200,000 copies of the Household Handbook were circulated apart from the household distribution. As already described, the Handbook was also used as the spine of the Board's advertising campaign from October onwards.

66. Electronic Converters The conversion rate between the euro and the Irish pound, €1 = £0.787564, is hard to remember, is impossible for people to use in mental arithmetic and does not lend itself to an easy rule of thumb for conversions. In addition, unlike the situation with other national currencies, amounts in euro are not markedly different in size from their equivalents in Irish pounds. Accordingly, in June 2001 it was decided to go to tender for the provision of 1.5 million electronic converters. The aim of the converter was to empower every household - giving people the ability to convert accurately for themselves and also helping them to build a scale of values in euro. The Board's converter converted IR£ amounts to euro and vice versa but did not perform calculations otherwise. It was hand-held and had large, clear buttons and a large screen. It displayed both the euro and Irish pound amounts on the screen at the same time and was very easy to operate.

67. Distribution of Converters Distribution of the converters was on a one-per-household basis, which amounted to almost 1.4 million. An Post were in charge of the household distribution; delivery began in early November and was completed on 10 December 2001. After that, households which for some reason had not received a converter could telephone the Board's LoCall number and have one sent to them. In addition, as described later, the Board offered converters to organisations representing vulnerable groups for their clients, and many were distributed in that way, while some 13,000 were provided in the Forfás kits for hackney drivers. In all, the Board distributed over 1.49m converters, its order proving sufficient to meet all demands. The converter was extremely popular and undoubtedly made an important contribution to the ease, confidence and enthusiasm with which the Irish public took to the new currency.

    As described later, a talking converter was also provided, in conjunction with the National Council for the Blind of Ireland.

    OTHER INFORMATION MATERIALS

68. Background The Board always strove to have available a broad range of high-quality information materials and to distribute them as widely as possible, both directly in response to requests and also through major information providers, businesses, community and voluntary bodies, charities etc. In order to ensure a sufficient supply of its materials in the second half of 2001, the Board went to tender in March 2001 for the printing of its main information materials in large quantities. In addition, the Board produced a number of new information materials during the period under review. These included the following:

    • Finalised designs of the euro notes and coins Following the unveiling of the final appearance of the euro banknotes and their security features by the European Central Bank on 30 August 2001, the Board produced both a new poster showing the finalised design of the notes and coins and a six-page A4 size brochure showing all the national faces of the euro coins as well as their common face and also including images of the notes.

    • Euro to pounds conversion charts The Board added to its existing stock of conversion charts and posters by producing charts showing conversions between euro and pounds. Five types were produced: A2 and A3 sized posters, a leaflet-sized converter, a pocket-sized converter and a converter specially designed for people with visual impairment (A4, large print, white matt background).

69. Distribution of Information Materials As mentioned in its third report, the Board had already outsourced its distribution function in anticipation of increasing demand for its materials as 1 January 2002 approached. To ensure that information was made available to people through a number of sectors, the Board made a number of targeted distributions of materials to schools, libraries, community development projects and nursing homes. Individuals and organisations were also able to order information materials by calling the Board's LoCall telephone service, by e-mail and by fax. To facilitate ordering, the Board also put an order form on its website. The wisdom of outsourcing the distribution function was amply demonstrated by the increasing demand for the Board's materials, which peaked in November 2001 when almost 3.5 million items were distributed.

    As the following graph shows, over half-a-million items a month were distributed every month from May to December 2001 (excluding the distributions to all households).

    

    THE BOARD'S NETWORKS

70. Background As well as distributing information direct to households and providing it otherwise by distribution in response to requests etc, the Board had in place various networks for the dissemination of information about the euro. These are described in the following paragraphs.

71. Consultative Panel In 1998 the Board established a Consultative Panel of organisations representing people likely to have special needs in the context of the changeover to the euro, in order to help identify their needs, advise on how these needs should be met and assist in meeting them. The Panel met on five occasions between April and December 2001, providing valuable input into the Board's information strategy. For example, the Panel's advice was sought on getting the euro message to all communities and on suitable locations for displaying euro information. Valuable input was also given for the Board's advertising, in particular, towards the development of a signed (and subtitled) television advertisement for deaf people and people with hearing impairment, a number of radio advertisements and the signed and subtitled version of the Board's public information video. The Panel also contributed to the production of the Euro Handbook.

    In addition, some Panel organisations carried out comprehensive training programmes for the people they represent, viz. the Irish Senior Citizens' Parliament, the National Council for the Blind of Ireland, the National Association for Deaf People, the Dublin Deaf Association, Comhairle (for Citizens' Information Centres and Money Advice and Budgeting Services), Muintir na Tíre, RehabCare, the National Training & Development Institute, the Irish Countrywomen's Association and the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed.

    Furthermore, two Panel organisations, the National Council for the Blind of Ireland and the National Association for Deaf People, provided representation at the regional awareness events described later in this report.

    The networks available through the Panel members were also used to distribute information and materials to their members and clients: in particular, some Panel members advised the Board in relation to the provision of electronic converters to people in low awareness groups or with special needs.

72. Information Sub-Committee 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 co-operate in disseminating the Board's information materials. The Sub-Committee met five times during the period of this report. Its main activities were in reviewing a calendar of forthcoming public information events that the Secretariat compiled and kept updated in an effort to keep the major information providers well informed about its information plans, and in assisting in the compilation of the Euro Handbook distributed to all households in October 2001.

73. Network of Departments with Low-Awareness Clients In furtherance of the Board's commitment to reaching people in low-awareness groups, in November 2000 the Secretariat established a Network of Government Departments dealing, directly or indirectly, with low-awareness clients. The Committee met four times during the period of this report to address the needs of, inter alia, social welfare recipients, farmers, fishery sector employees, refugees and asylum seekers, low wage earners, local authority tenants, Health Board patients and public service pensioners. An action plan, detailing euro-related activities for low-awareness groups by these Departments, was compiled by the Secretariat. These activities included the provision of information on the euro to social welfare customers, farmers, VTOS (Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme) centres, public sector pensioners, offenders and low wage earners.

74. Contacts with Health Boards The Secretariat also kept in close touch with Health Boards. Each of the Health Boards had put in place a programme of information and training for staff and clients. In planning their programmes, Health Boards had regard to the needs of clients in their care. Secretariat personnel liaised with Health Boards to ensure that they were aware of the variety of materials available and the uses to which materials could be put in terms of information and training. The Secretariat also ensured that large quantities of the Board's information materials and training materials were distributed to the Health Boards to assist with their information and training programmes. Many Health Boards also organised training for the agencies to which they provide funding. The agencies covered a wide range of organisations, including organisations working with older people and people with learning difficulties. Secretariat staff participated in a number of the training and information sessions organised by various Health Boards for their agencies: the purpose of these sessions was to ensure that voluntary groups were informed about the changeover and equipped to provide information and/or training to their clients about it. The agencies were also made familiar with the materials available from the Board. The Board's training pack was an essential material for the agencies because it enabled them to conduct training without further input from the Board.

    ACTIVITIES IN PARTICULAR AREAS

75. The Education Sector The Board continued to give high priority to ensuring that information and materials about the euro were available to teachers and students. In the period under review:

    • the Board issued an information pack to every school in Autumn 2001. Each pack contained a leaflet with cardboard, press-out notes and coins for every student (for use in school and home activities), five copies of an ECBI poster showing euro notes and coins and a copy of the ECBI's public information video "When the Penny Drops"

    • schools for students with special needs were included in the above distribution and, in addition, other materials (training and games materials for people with special needs) were sent to some special schools

    • the Board distributed copies of the Irish version of its public information video to all Gaelscoileanna

    • in February 2002 the Board distributed leaflets showing all the national faces of the euro coins to all schools.

    The Board also part-funded under the NGO Programme a project by the Irish Bankers' Federation (IBF) and the Irish Mortgage & Savings Association to update the Irish Banks' Information Service (IBIS) educational programmes. The programmes in question, which were redeveloped for the euro, were:

    • "Money-go-Round", a set of resources aimed at teaching 8-12 year-olds about the subject of money, and
    • "Paymaster", a post-primary resource programme relating specifically to business studies on the Junior Certificate syllabus and home economics on the Leaving Certificate syllabus.

    The updated programmes, which came with a booklet, cassette, video and CD-ROM (and are also accessible on the IBIS website) were launched in November 2001 and were provided directly to schools by the IBF free of charge.

    The ECBI also continued to make schools material available on its website - this contains resources for both teachers and students (including downloadable materials) and provides links to other useful and relevant websites. These include Scoilnet, which provides valuable resources for teachers, including an electronic, downloadable version of the detailed subject guidelines on the euro that were prepared by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and distributed to schools in November 2000 (see the Board's third annual report). During the period of this report, the student games (which include quizzes, shopping games and word searches, etc.) were made available for downloading in order to facilitate their use "off-line", adding to the day-to-day euro resources available to teachers.

76. The Board's Website www.euro.ie The Board's website, launched in September 1998, includes information on the role of the Board; illustrations of the designs for the euro notes and coins, including the designs for all the national faces of the coins; a 'euro calculator' for conversions between Irish pound amounts and euro amounts and vice versa; a downloadable euro font for computer keyboards; and a full list of the euro conversion rates for the participating currencies. It also includes information materials produced by the Board and by the Department of Finance; all press releases relating to ECBI activities and events; and an extensive list of addresses of other useful websites. In the legislation area, the site includes the EU legal framework for the euro, the Economic and Monetary Union Act 1998, and the Explanatory Memorandum on the Euro Changeover (Amounts) Act 2001.

    New material added during the period of this report included the following:

    • updates to the "What's New" section, including all press releases; notification of the launches of the Board's Euro Handbook and electronic converter and notice of the sale of coin starter packs; notice of the issue of the schools' information pack; and details of the Board's roadshow and regional awareness events;
    • the facility to download euro games from the schools pages, to facilitate teachers and students working "off-line" (the games are downloadable in "zipped" format);
    • a facility for visitors to download the euro font onto their keyboards;
    • a downloadable version of the Board's Euro Handbook in both Irish and English language versions;
    • a downloadable version of the Board's eleven foreign language leaflets on the euro; and
    • a "pop-up" window displaying the countdown first to 1 January 2002 and thereafter to midnight on 9 February 2002.

    The website received over 400,000 visits in the period of this report. The number of visits per month rose from less than 30,000 in the months up to July to over 90,000 in December 2001, indicating the increased level of interest and awareness in the run-up to the changeover and the public's eagerness to access the wide-ranging amount of information obtainable through the site.

77. Continuing Availability of the Board's Website The Board's website will continue to be made available for access, and for enquiry and research purposes.

    REGIONAL EVENTS

78. Background The Board made considerable efforts to ensure that information was made available at regional as well as at national level. This was done through many mechanisms apart from its nationwide advertising and public information campaigns - its wide network of contacts, advertising on local radio and in local press, provision of information through Health Boards, Non-Governmental Organisations etc. In addition, the Board took a number of specific initiatives aimed at ensuring provision of information on a face-to-face basis around the country during the period under review.

79. Regional Roadshow The Board commissioned a large and brightly-coloured mobile information unit, called the Euro Roadshow, to travel to every county in the country providing information on the changeover. The Roadshow was launched at the European Commission Representation and European Parliament Offices in Dublin by the Minister for Finance on Europe Day, 9 May 2001, and travelled around the country until November 2001. The Roadshow was wheelchair accessible. Its exterior was decorated with pictures of euro notes and coins. Its interior had specially-designed exhibition posters answering frequently-asked questions about the changeover and was equipped with computers, televisions and video recorders. It also stocked information materials produced by the Board such as booklets, posters and paper converters, as well as materials produced by Forfás and the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs. Two information officers on board the Roadshow answered the public's questions about the changeover. The Roadshow's arrival in each location was widely advertised in the local press and on local radio and where possible was timed to coincide with significant local events. The Roadshow proved a very popular attraction and was successful in providing people with an opportunity to learn about the euro at local level and face-to-face with well-informed staff.

80. Regional Awareness Events In addition to the Roadshow, the Board held a series of eight regional events throughout the country to further increase euro awareness. The events were organised in conjunction with the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs (DSCFA) and were held in October and November 2001, in Dundalk, Sligo, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Tullamore and Kilkenny. The primary targets for these events were organisations representing social welfare clients and people in low awareness categories, including people with disabilities, but the general public was also invited. All events were advertised using local media and via the Board's networks, in an effort to ensure the best possible attendance. Access for people with disabilities was one of the principal criteria used in selecting the venues and, where possible, it was arranged that a signer would attend at events to assist people with hearing impairment. As well as the DSCFA and the Board, information providers represented at these events included the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs, the National Council for the Blind of Ireland and the National Association for Deaf People, and at local events, the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, the Cork Deaf Association and the Offaly Money Advice and Budgeting Service. Each event provided an opportunity for people and organisations to see the range of euro training and information materials available for people in low awareness groups and to listen to the Board's presentation on the euro.

    TRAINING

81. Training Training trainers and providing assistance and materials to trainers were important parts of the Board's activities. During the period under review, the Board handled many queries from groups and trainers concerning training and the availability of training materials, including materials for working with groups with special needs in the changeover. A wide range of materials, described later, was made available, particularly for groups with special needs. In many cases the Board was able to help trainers and groups by discussing their needs and helping them to choose the most appropriate training aids. In addition, the Board's training pack (described below) was important in that it empowered many trainers to carry out training and provide information on the euro, thus significantly multiplying information on the euro without further input from the Board. Trainers in the many organisations providing information on the changeover to the euro around the country helped the Board considerably by carrying out training and ensuring that their clients were informed about the changeover to the euro.
    During the year, the Board also provided personnel where possible, to train various groups and their trainers on the changeover to the euro. For example, the Board provided personnel for courses organised for people involved in the Money Advice and Budgeting Service. In addition, the Board assisted particular Health Boards with training and informing the agencies in their regions. The Board also provided personnel for the training of members of the Irish Countrywomen's Association, who were then in a position to provide information to others.

82. Training Pack In Spring 2001 the Board produced a training pack for trainers. The objective of the pack was to provide trainers and speakers with the tools to inform and train people about the changeover to the euro. The pack was of great importance from the Board's point of view because it ensured that information on the changeover could be spread by people in a wide variety of organisations.

    The pack contained an easy-to-follow presentation of nine slides covering topics such as the euro changeover timetable, how to convert from IR£ to euro, what euro notes and coins would look like and how the cash changeover would work. The pack also contained a set of speakers' notes which helped speakers and trainers by providing them with the background to the slides in the pack. Answers to frequently-asked questions were also included in the speakers notes. In total, over 4,600 training packs were distributed throughout the country to enable voluntary and community groups, amongst others, to inform their clients about the changeover to the euro. The pack was also produced in Irish.

83. Public Information Video In late 1998, the Board commissioned an information video for the general public entitled "Time for Change", the video proved to be a very useful means of informing people about the euro. The video was distributed to libraries and European Information Centres as well as being made available to organisations wishing to inform their members about the euro. In view of the usefulness of that video, the Board decided early in 2001 to commission a new public information video incorporating the most up-to-date information about the changeover to the euro and explaining how it would take place. The new video, "When the Penny Drops", approximately 15 minutes long, was produced in an English language version, an Irish language version and a signed and subtitled version. A copy of the English version of the video was sent to every primary and post primary school in the country, and a copy of the Irish version was sent to all Gaelscoileanna. The video was also distributed to local authorities, Health Boards, libraries, nursing homes and community development projects. Looped copies were also made available where requested. In all, some 9,400 copies of the various versions of the video were distributed in the period under review.

84. Forfás Video for Business In conjunction with the production of its own video, the Board also funded the production of a training video for retailers, which was distributed by the Forfás EMU Business Awareness Campaign. The video was commissioned by the Forfás Campaign and was prepared in consultation with its Retail Working Group entitled "The Change is in your Till", it presented a practical guide to the euro for retailers and covered such issues as preparing retail businesses for the changeover, euro cash handling and assisting customers during the changeover.

    MATERIALS FOR PEOPLE WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

85. New Special Needs Materials The Board continued to take a proactive approach in its efforts to provide information on the changeover to the euro to all members of the public and in particular to people in "low awareness" categories, i.e. people who might not have full access to mainstream information for whatever reason, including people with disabilities. In the period under review, the Board, both on its own initiative and in consultation with a range of relevant organisations, produced or assisted with the production of information materials and training tools specifically for people in low awareness groups, as follows:

    • an audio version of the Board's household Handbook (in English) was produced for the ECBI by the National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) and was made available on request to people who are blind or visually-impaired or otherwise would have difficulty reading the Handbook

    • the Board part-funded the provision of some 8,000 talking converters which were distributed through the NCBI. The converter was similar to the Board's own converter in that it converted amounts from Irish pounds to euro and vice versa but did not perform calculations otherwise. The converters were issued to everyone on the NCBI register and also to relevant organisations known to the ECBI and to individuals who requested them. They were distributed together with a plastic pocket cash-testing device, provided by the European Central Bank, which enables blind and visually-impaired people to measure each note and coin and thereby to determine its value

    • the ECBI also part-funded a series of workbooks entitled "Know Your Euro", produced by Ms Monica McNamara in association with St. Michael's House, under the ECBI funding programme for NGOs. The workbooks were launched in June. They were primarily for people with learning disabilities and aim to teach the student about money and basic mathematics, so that they have a value for tutors and students long after the completion of the changeover to the euro

    • the ECBI also part-funded a CD-ROM for people with learning disabilities which was produced by the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary, under the auspices of the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies (again under the Board's NGO funding programme). The CD-ROM can be used by students alone or with a tutor and focuses primarily on recognition of the notes and coins; like the workbooks, the CD-ROM has long-term value in training programmes for people with disabilities

    • copies of a workbook set entitled "You and Money", produced by KARE, were also acquired for distribution to organisations representing people with learning disabilities. These workbooks were designed with KARE clients in mind but have a value for anyone with a learning difficulty trying to learn about the euro

    • the European Commission, under its "Euro Facile" programme, commissioned the production of materials for people in low awareness groups. Some of these were obtained by the Board and distributed to organisations in Ireland. These included: "Euro Shopping", a training game with price cards and used with cardboard money, to practice shopping with the euro; "Domineuro", a euro version of dominoes; "Euro Puzzle", a jigsaw and question-and-answer game in which the player selects a jigsaw piece which has a number on the back and must answer the question before placing the piece in the jigsaw (this game was useful for a wide range of groups)

    • for deaf and hearing-impaired people, the ECBI's public information video, entitled "When the Penny Drops", was made available in a signed and subtitled version

    • the Board's fax numbers and e-mail address were widely advertised to facilitate enquiries from deaf people.

86. Electronic Converters for Special Needs Groups In addition to its postal delivery of some 1.4 million converters to households, the Board distributed over 50,000 electronic converters to groups with special needs. These represented a wide range of sectors, including mentally- and physically-disabled people, older people (including those in nursing homes), prisoners, young adults with learning disabilities in special housing, homeless people, non-nationals and the Travelling community.

87. Information for Non-Nationals Conscious of the increasing diversity of the population and the desirability of reaching everyone as far as possible, in Autumn 2001 the Board had its basic household leaflet "Are you ready for the changeover" translated into eleven languages to provide information on the euro changeover for non-nationals living in Ireland. The leaflet was produced in Albanian, Arabic, Chinese, Croat, Czech, French, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian and Vietnamese. These leaflets were distributed through a range of relevant organisations and bodies, including the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and relevant non-governmental organisations. 10,000 copies of each language version except the French (20,000) were produced.

88. Dummy banknotes and coins Dummy euro banknotes and coins were made available via the European Commission and the European Central Bank to trainers of people who are blind, deaf or have learning disabilities. The notes were supplied directly to the trainers by an EU-appointed distributor, upon receipt of a signed letter of discharge; the token coins were distributed by the Board. The dummy banknotes were similar to the real notes, in that they were printed on one side only, were of the correct colour and had many of the real notes' relief features (but not the security features, which were not unveiled until the end of August 2001). The dummy coins, or "training tokens", were again similar to the real coins - the non-national side was reproduced in part with sufficient detail to enable them to be identified and they had the correct colour, size and edging (but not the correct weight, to prevent them being used in coin machines).

89. Ábhair i nGaeilge Le linn na tréimhse a chlúdaítear leis an tuarascáil seo, lean an Bord dá pholasaí ábhair a chur ar fáil i nGaeilge agus iad a scaipeadh go forleathan. Tháirg an Bord leaganacha Gaeilge de na hítimí eolais euro seo a leanas - an Lámhleabhar Euro (a scaipeadh ar gach aon teaghlach i limistéir Ghaeltachta agus a bhí in-íoslódáilte i nGaeilge ó láithreán gréasáin an Bhoird); an pacáiste oiliúna chun oiliúint a dhéanamh ar an euro; agus an físeán eolais phoiblí. Tairgeadh leaganacha Gaeilge de bhileoga agus postaeir an Bhoird: bhí fáil ag an bpobal orthu agus thairis sin scaipeadh iad lena léiriú in oifigí poist agus i limistéir phoiblí eile. An puballchárta a scaipeadh ar thithe tábhairne i Samhain/Nollaig 2001, bhí sé dátheangach - an Ghaeilge ar thaobh amháin agus an Béarla ar an taobh eile. Táirgeadh fógraí i nGaeilge don teilifís agus don raidió, ina raibh duine mór-le-rá Gaeilge i ngach cás, agus d'fhéach an Bord le fógraí teilifíse a chur á gcraoladh ar Theilifís Sky - an chéad uair ar craoladh fógraí i nGaeilge ar an stáisiún sin. Bhí fógraí nuachtáin i nGaeilge sa pháipéar nuachta Gaeilge "Foinse". Ar deireadh thiar, thug foireann ón rúnaíocht agallaimh ar TG4, ar Raidió na Gaeltachta, ar Raidió na Life agus ar sheirbhís Nuachta RTÉ.

    LOCALL SERVICE

90. Ongoing Locall Service An important part of the Board's information campaign was the telephone helpline for the public at LoCall 1890 20 10 50 (calls were charged at local rates, regardless of the caller's location in Ireland). As expected, the number of telephone calls to the LoCall number increased as 2001 wore on and it was decided to go to tender to engage a service operator to handle LoCall calls from the end of September 2001 until after the end of the changeover. Such an operator would have the capacity and flexibility to meet the expected increase in the number of calls in the run-up to 1 January 2002 and during the changeover period itself. The service operator began to handle calls at end-September, just before delivery began of the Household Handbook, which naturally contained the LoCall number. In total, the LoCall received over 50,000 calls between end-September and the end of the changeover, a figure which bore testament to the need for such a service. The number of calls grew gradually from the beginning of October, peaked in late December/early January, returned to more normal levels in mid-to-late January 2002 and then diminished to very low levels. The busiest period, as might be expected, was in the week 31 December 2001 - 6 January 2002. During this period, and just before and after it, the LoCall was operating seven days a week.

    The needs of hearing-impaired callers were catered for with a fax and minicom service and an Irish speaker was available to answer queries in Irish.

91. Statistics on distribution of Information Materials Naturally the volume of euro information materials provided by the Board expanded greatly in 2001 and reached a total of well over 10 million, making the Board's public information campaign over the four years 1998-2002 almost certainly the longest and most extensive in the history of the State. Appendix 8 gives figures for the various information items distributed during the period under review.

    OTHER ACTIVITIES

92. PR Events, Press Launches etc The Board also organised a range of media events during the year, including press conferences and photocalls. These are described briefly below.

    • Launch of Board's Euro Roadshow and European Commission's Exhibition On 9 May 2001, the Minister for Finance launched the Board's Euro Roadshow at the offices in Dawson Street, Dublin of the European Commission Representation and European Parliament Office in Ireland. Simultaneously, the Minister also launched the Commission's own Euro Exhibition, which was on display there until February 2002.

    • Launch of Euro Handbook, Public Awareness Survey Results and Third Annual Report The Minister for Finance and the Chairperson of the Board launched these on 28 September 2001 at the Board's offices.

    • Photocall to mark the launch of the Board's schools' information pack and new public information video On 1 November 2001, the Chairperson of the Board was joined by soccer star Paul McGrath and a group of schoolchildren to mark the launch of the Board's schools' information pack and new public information video.

    • Launch of Euro Converter The delivery of an electronic converter to every household in the country was marked at a photocall on 15 November 2001 with the Minister for Finance and the Chairperson of the Board.

    • Launch of euro information leaflet in eleven languages On 22 November 2001, the Minister for Finance and the Chairperson launched euro information leaflets in eleven languages, for non-nationals living in Ireland.

    • 31 December 2001 - A Celebration of the Euro On Monday 31 December 2001, the Chairperson of the Board, the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland and the Director of Consumer Affairs joined the Minister for Finance at the corner of St. Stephen's Green, Dublin, to celebrate the introduction of euro notes and coins. A lunchtime euro party was held, with a band and a 'confetti fireworks' display. Young people in euro notes and coins costumes distributed 'Happy Euro Day' cards and information packs to the public and a band entertained the gathering. The event was covered by a number of media organisations, both national and international. The celebrations continued on the main New Year's Eve light entertainment programme on RTE television, on which the euro was a central theme and there was a quiz with a prize of €20,000 sponsored by the Board.

    • Event on 1 January 2002 On 1 January 2002, the Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern TD, made a purchase in IR£ and received his change in euro at his local newsagent in Dublin. He then made a further purchase, this time with Belgian euro coins presented to him by the Prime Minister of Belgium at the recent European Council meeting. There was a large media presence and the event received extensive coverage.

    • Press Conferences 2 - 4 January 2002 The Board held daily press conferences during the first few days of January 2002, giving the media an opportunity to receive and report the most up-to-date information on the euro and to interview the Chairperson.

93. Talks and Presentations An important part of the Board's activities was giving talks and making presentations to local and community groups etc about the changeover to the euro. Secretariat staff gave some 80 talks during the period, to ladies' clubs, groups representing older people and local community groups; there were also presentations to some conferences. The Secretariat also provided ECBI materials in response to requests from groups arranging their own talks and presentations.

94. Interviews with the Media Many interviews, on television and radio and in the press, were given by the Chairperson and Secretariat staff throughout the year. Regular interviews were given to the national media in Ireland, i.e. the national press, television and radio stations. Local radio stations countrywide constantly requested interviews, usually for their mid-morning shows. Media interest, including requests from foreign media, both press and television, grew significantly as 1 January 2002 approached, and were very frequent during the first few days of January 2002.

95. International Contacts via the European Union The Secretariat continued to maintain its links with the European Union in the public information area. As already mentioned, the National Information Programme was part-funded by the European Union and coordinated by the JIP Group, which comprised representatives from the European Commission Representation and European Parliament Office in Ireland as well as from the Secretariat and Forfás. In addition, the Commission organised a network of Directors of Communication on the euro on which the Secretariat was represented and meetings of the network were held every two to three months. Although providing public information about the changeover was essentially a national responsibility, these meetings provided useful contact with the Commission and European Parliament as well as the opportunity to share ideas with colleagues from other Member States' administrations. Finally, and again as already mentioned, the Board obtained some materials under the Commission's "Euro Made Easy" programme and distributed them, and made their availability known to relevant organisations.

    LINKS WITH FORFÁS

96. Background The Forfás EMU Business Awareness Campaign was the second part of the National Information Programme on the euro. The Campaign was launched by the Government in 1996 and its purpose was to provide information to help businesses prepare themselves for EMU and the changeover to the euro. The Board was represented on the Management Committee which directed the Business Awareness Campaign, while Forfás was represented on the Board. These links helped to avoid duplication and to promote synergies. The Board actively promoted the Forfás EMU Business Awareness Campaign in its information materials where appropriate. The Board was also involved with Forfás in the Loughrea Euro Town Project (see later).

97. General Forfás Activities in 2001 During 2001, the Forfás Campaign continued to promote its key messages to the enterprise sector using appropriate advertising, direct mail and promotional activities as well as targeted information initiatives. The Campaign answered almost 24,000 queries from businesses on the introduction of the euro during the year, bringing the total number answered by the Campaign to over 41,000. A significant number of these queries were of a detailed nature and required continued liaison on the part of the Campaign with the other stakeholders in the changeover. Two issues of the Campaign newsletter "Eurochange" were printed during the year.

98. Presentations, Training Activities and Exhibitions The Campaign gave 245 presentations during 2001 in association with various trade organisations. In addition, a set of partnership events was agreed between the Campaign, IBEC, the Small Firms Association and a commercial bank. These events were organised by the local Chambers of Commerce, Enterprise Ireland regional offices and local enterprise boards. A total of 50 events were held throughout the country. Consultation also took place between the Campaign and FÁS in the development of FÁS training sessions for SMEs and retailers. Over the period September 2001 - December 2001, a total of 772 training programmes were delivered to retailers and business managers throughout the country. In addition, suitable business events, exhibitions and conferences that were specifically focused at SMEs and at which relevant information material could be distributed directly to the business community were actively targeted. The Campaign took part in a total of 14 exhibitions during 2001.

99. Advertising by Forfás A major advertising campaign was developed and executed using a variety of media, under the theme of 'Put the Euro in Business'. This campaign, which was co-ordinated with the advertising of the other bodies involved in the introduction of the euro, began with radio advertising on national and local stations and also included press, Internet and television advertising on a phased basis throughout the year. The Campaign continued ongoing monitoring of business preparations through national surveys carried out for it by the Economic and Social Research Institute. In all, six surveys were undertaken throughout the year, including a number specifically aimed at determining the extent of preparations among the retail sector. The results of these surveys provided strategic direction for the activities of the Campaign during the year.

100. Guidelines for Retailers, and Handbook for SMEs The Campaign's existing guidelines for retailers were substantially revised to include the key information for retailers in the final year of the changeover process. 270,000 copies of the revised guide were distributed to retailers throughout the country. A new handbook for SMEs, bringing together the latest information in a comprehensive manner suitable for small businesses undertaking the changeover, was prepared with extensive consultation with Government Departments, the Revenue Commissioners, the ECBI and the Irish Bankers' Federation. It covered key preparation issues including cash changeover accounting, software, taxation, banking and other aspects of the changeover. Again, some 270,000 copies of this handbook were distributed.

101. The Forfás Retail Training Kit Retailers were in the front line during the cash changeover and had a key role to play in facilitating acceptance of the euro among consumers. It was essential that retailers be adequately prepared to play their part in the smooth and efficient implementation of the changeover across the Irish economy. One of the most important activities that the Campaign undertook in 2001, therefore, was the production of a kit for the purposes of training retail staff, which was provided to all retailers in the country. A total of 60,000 copies of the kit were distributed to assist owner/managers in retail outlets with the task of training their staff. The kit contained a number of practical tools to help retailers and their staff manage during the period of dual circulation, including a pre-programmed calculator capable of converting from IR£ to euro and vice versa and of handling tenders of both currencies at once; a ready reckoner showing the euro equivalent of every amount, penny by penny, from one penny to £250 and pound by pound from £251 to £1,000; a training manual; dummy euro notes and coins; posters; and other materials. The kit was also used by FÁS as the basis for the training sessions it provided to retailers between October and December 2001.

102. Other Items for Retailers In addition to the retail training kit, other initiatives were aimed specifically at the retail sector. These included the Forfás video entitled "The Change is in Your Till", which illustrated in a visual way many of the issues to be dealt with at an operational level in retail outlets. Two direct mail campaigns were also undertaken in the latter half of 2001. Retailers were issued with a "Six Months to Go" leaflet in July, while a "40 Days to Go" pack was issued in November. This included a booklet on security for retailers published by An Garda Síochána, information about insurance and copies of the ECBI poster "how we can all help". All of this work was carried out in consultation with the members of the Forfás Retail Working Group, in addition to the many stakeholders involved in the retail aspects of the changeover.

103. Kits for Taxi and Hackney Drivers Information for taxi and hackney drivers was also distributed during the month of December. A total of 10,000 Kits containing specific information on the changeover, an A4 sheet on the security features of the euro notes and a calculator were distributed to taxi drivers. Similar kits, containing the ECBI's euro converter, were made available to 13,000 hackney drivers via the licensing authorities.

104. Information Statistics Otherwise In terms of information provision, a further 2,591 Information Packs; 3,645 Summary Brochures; 5,639 Retail Brochures; 1,827 IT Guidelines; 1,644 Cross-Border Documents; 1,910 Case Study Brochures and 2,222 Strategies Guides were distributed through the channels that had already been established by the Campaign, bringing the total number of publications distributed by the Campaign to over 2 million. The Campaign website www.emuaware.forfas.ie was maintained as one of the most comprehensive business information sources available.

105. IT Software Software proved to be a key issue for businesses throughout 2001. In February 2001 at the National Conference to mark the end of the Loughrea Euro Town Project, a number of issues were identified as being important for businesses to address. Work was undertaken to determine the euro-readiness of the available off-the-shelf accounting packages and to make the outcome available to businesses in the form of a software survey. The results of this survey were uploaded onto the Campaign website and revised regularly. Software issues for business were highlighted at every available opportunity in journal articles and at conferences and seminars.

106. Consultative Mechanisms The Campaign continued to maintain its consultative mechanisms with the business sector, especially through the Management Committee of the Campaign, the Consultative Committee and the Retail Group, as well as with the European Commission through the Joint Information Programme Group. Liaison and co-ordination was also assured through representation on the Euro Changeover Board of Ireland and its subsidiary bodies, including the Board's Information Sub-Committee and Cash Changeover Working Group.

107. Lessons from The Loughrea Euro Town Project Support on behalf of the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment continued to be provided up to the completion of the Loughrea Euro Town Project in February 2001, with a special emphasis on ensuring its contribution to the national campaign. (The project is described in the Board's second and third annual reports). A national conference was held in February 2001 to highlight experiences from the project in the context of a re-launch of the national campaign for the final year of preparations. The conference was addressed by the Tánaiste, the Minister for Commerce, Science and Technology and the EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, as well as project participants and expert speakers. The lessons and experience gained in the Loughrea project, especially in small firm preparation requirements, retail issues and software issues, were carried over into the national campaign throughout 2001, and drawn upon in strategy development, presentations and information material.

     NGO PROGRAMMES

108. Non-Governmental Organisations Programme The Programme for Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) was the third part of the National Information Programme and was administered by the Board. Under the NGO Programme, funding was available to NGOs to help meet the costs of activities undertaken to promote awareness of the euro. For the purposes of the Programme, NGOs were defined as non-profit making organisations and included registered charities, voluntary, community and vocational organisations, trade unions and business and trade organisations. State bodies and organisations were not included.

     The NGO Programme was an important part of the Board's efforts to reach groups of people at risk of low awareness of the euro and people with special needs, and the organisations representing them. In the period of this report, Board activities were carried out in relation to two tranches of the NGO programme and these are now described.

109. 2000/2001 NGO Programme The 2000/2001 Programme covered activities in the period from 1 November 2000 to 30 June 2001 (the original deadline of 31 May 2001 was extended as a result of the foot-and-mouth crisis, which resulted in the cancellation of many events). The funding allocation for this programme was £600,000 (e761,842.85). The Secretariat placed an advertisement seeking applications for funds in the national daily newspapers on 31 August 2000 and particular efforts were made to encourage participation by the voluntary and community sectors. 122 applications for funding were received and, following consideration by the Joint Information Programme Group (JIP), contracts were awarded to 96 successful applicants, of which 79 proceeded with projects. Activities in this programme included the production of training materials for people with special needs, talks and conferences, workshops and training seminars, and community radio programmes. The target audience included the general public, women's groups, elderly people, unemployed people, farming and rural communities, Travellers, disadvantaged areas, literacy groups, people with disabilities, offenders, refugees, consumers, local businesses and community and local groups. The organisations in the 2000/2001 Programme are listed atAppendix 6.

110. 2001/2002 NGO Programme The 2001/2002 Programme, which was the final one, covered activities in the period from 3 May 2001 until 31 December 2001, or until 9 February 2002 in relation to people with special needs. The funding allocation for this final phase was e1.5 million. The Secretariat placed an advertisement seeking applications for funds in the national daily newspapers on 8 March 2001 and again on 14/15/16 March 2001. Particular efforts to encourage applications were made by issuing application forms to over 400 organisations in advance of the first advertisement (a further 200 application forms were requested). The closing date for receipt of applications was 5 April 2001. A total of 189 applications was received and following consideration by the JIP, contracts were awarded to 163 organisations, of which 129 proceeded with projects. There was a strong focus on training in this Programme, both by trade organisations and by community and voluntary groups, with most of the bodies carrying out training workshops, seminars, awareness meetings, etc. Organisations awarded funding represented a wide range of groups/people, including people with intellectual disabilities, blind and visually-impaired people, deaf and hearing-impaired people, older people, local community groups, women's community groups, the farming community, rural communities, people with physical disabilities, asylum seekers, Travellers, early school leavers, youth groups, socially-excluded people, literacy groups, Citizens' Information Centres and trade unions. Business interests were represented by business and trade associations, retail associations and chambers of commerce. The organisations in the 2001/2002 Programme are listed at Appendix 6. It should be noted that processing of claims from organisations in the Programme was still in progress at the time of finalisation of this report.

Part II: Overseeing the detailed implementation of the changeover
Part IV: How the Changeover Went

Table of Contents