Mr Charlie McCreevy, TD., Minister for Finance today
(Wednesday 18 November 1998) launched

• a public information video on the changeover to the euro; and
• the third edition of Ireland's National Plan for the changeover to the euro.

The public information video was commissioned by the Euro Changeover Board of Ireland (ECBI) and will shortly be made available to public libraries. It will also be available on request from the ECBI.

Launching the video, the Minister said "this new public information video shows in picture form what the timetable for the changeover to the euro is and what the notes and coins will look like. It also looks at how the euro will be useable in cashless form from 1 January next. The video will be updated next year, after the euro has come into being".

The Minister also launched the third edition of "EMU and the euro: Ireland's National Changeover Plan."

Like its predecessors, the third edition of the Plan has been approved by the Government. It sets out the arrangements that will be made by the public sector - including Government Departments, local authorities, State-sponsored bodies, the Central Bank and the National Treasury Management Agency - as well as by private sector bodies including banks and building societies and the Irish Stock Exchange, to facilitate the changeover to the euro.

New material in the Plan covers the insurance sector and codes of conduct for the changeover put in place by IBEC. In addition, there is an extensive section dealing with dual display in the public sector:

• The ESB, Telecom and An Bord Gais will begin showing the total amount on bills in both Irish pounds and euro during 1999

• On-line game tickets from the National Lottery will show the euro equivalent beside the Irish pound amount from January, and dual display on scratch card tickets will start as soon after that as printing schedules permit

• From Spring 1999, tax-free allowance (TFA) certificates from the Revenue Commissioners will show annual and weekly/monthly TFA amounts in both Irish pounds and euro

• Bus Átha Cliath - Dublin Bus will show fare amounts on bus tickets in both Irish pounds and euro from mid-1999. Pre-printed tickets from all three companies in the CIE Group (Bus Átha Cliath, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann) will show fares in both Irish pounds and euro from mid-1999

• During 1999, payslips from Government Departments will begin to show the net pay amount in both Irish pounds and euro. In general, other public sector bodies will do likewise

• Television licences and renewal notices will show the licence fee in both Irish pounds and euro as soon as possible in 1999

• The Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs will produce a leaflet showing social welfare payment rates in both Irish pounds and euro.

Launching the plan, Mr McCreevy said: "With EMU starting in just six weeks, this new edition of our National Changeover Plan is timely. I particularly welcome the new material in the Plan about dual display in the public sector, and also the new material from the insurance industry and from IBEC. This Plan means that Ireland should be well prepared for the introduction of the euro in cashless form on 1 January 1999 and, in the longer term, for the changeover to euro notes and coins that will begin on 1 January 2002. I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the Plan for their ongoing efforts to ensure a smooth and orderly transition to the euro".

The Changeover Timetable:

On 1 January 1999, the euro will come into being as the currency of the eleven Member States participating in EMU (Economic and Monetary Union). The conversion rates of the currency of those Member States against the euro will be irrevocably fixed and the euro will be useable for non-cash transactions from then on. Euro notes and coins will not yet be available, so national notes and coins will continue to circulate.

On 1 January 2002, euro notes and coins will be put into circulation and the withdrawal of national notes and coins will begin. Within six months at most (and probably a good deal less), the changeover to the euro will be complete.

For Further Information & Links contact:

David Curtin,
Carr Communications
Tel:01 - 278 5000 or 087 2832 123

The National Changeover Plan is available from the Euro Changeover Board of Ireland (Locall 1890 20 10 50) and will be on the ECBI Website www.irlgov.ie/ecbi-euro from Thursday 19 November 1998. It will be available on the Forfás EMU Business Awareness Campaign website http://www.emuaware.forfas.ie from Thursday also, and will shortly be produced as a document in the Campaign's information pack.