Businesses are still not taking preparation for transition to the euro sufficiently seriously, the EU Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Mr Pedro Solbes, warned yesterday.
A new EU survey also shows that Irish respondents ranked lowest in their ability to give the value of the euro.
Speaking to journalists in Brussels about the practical preparations for the introduction of notes and coins in January 2002, Mr Solbes said he was particularly concerned that many firms did not understand that the changes in their accounting and billing practices could not wait until either January 1st 2002 or the subsequent dual-currency period in the first couple of months of that year.
A report from the Commission warns that pushing back the date for a changeover may result in IT or accounting bottlenecks, and that a date in early 2002 would be illegal.
Surveys show that SMEs are still slower than large firms in switching over entirely to the euro - some 40 per cent of large firms and 25 per cent of SMEs are hoping to do so this year.
In a Euro-barometer poll published by the Commission, Irish respondents confessed to being less well informed about the single currency than the European average and reflected some confusion about when they will be able to start to use the new notes and coins. One-third said "before 2002", while a further 24 per cent picked a date after the launch.
Fifty three per cent said that they paid attention to the dual display of prices (Finland - 79 per cent; France - 39 per cent), but only 13 per cent said they had tried to memorise any prices in euros. Half the respondents in Ireland also said they feared having personal difficulties during the replacement period.
There are also strong fears of being cheated, with 61 per cent of Irish and 54 per cent of EU-wide respondents expressing concern. Some 48 per cent of the Irish, the lowest in the euro-zone states, were able correctly to give the value of the euro.
