ADDRESS BY MR NOEL TREACY, T.D., MINISTER FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND COMMERCE TO THE IQPC YEAR 2000 COMPLIANCE CONFERENCE 'ASSESSING AND MANAGING THE LEGAL RISKS' IN THE BURLINGTON HOTEL, FRIDAY, 27th NOVEMBER 1998.

The Irish Government's Year 2000 Business Awareness Campaign

I am delighted to have the opportunity to address this Year 2000 Conference on 'Assessing and Managing the Legal Risks' organised by the International Quality and Productivity Centre. The problem variously referred to as the Millennium Bug, or Millennium Timebomb, is now at last, well and truly on the National Business Agenda and is receiving an increasing amount of serious Media coverage. It is encouraging that, as a consequence of the efforts of our Government and other Professional Bodies such as IQPC, Business interests seem to have absorbed the message that this Problem is looming fast, and has a seriously critical path ahead.

Despite this growing level of Awareness it is the uncertainty of what exactly will be affected and how, that has given rise to such concern on this Subject.

As far as the Government is concerned, our involvement in this Problem is twofold. Firstly, we have been organising a Campaign to make Business Aware of the Problem and secondly, we have a responsibility to put the Government's own house in order so that the huge range of Public Services, both to Businesses and the Consumer, provided by the State and its many Agencies, will be unaffected into the new Millennium.

The critical aspect is Awareness. It was apparent that many Businesses around the Country were unaware of the issues involved. To tackle this Information deficit I established a Year 2000 National Campaign Committee, earlier this year, in order to promote Business Awareness across the Country. This brought together the expertise of a wide range of Representatives in the private sector as well as some Public Sector Representatives. The Irish Computer Society, the Irish Banking Federation and the Irish Insurance Federation were some of those bodies represented and I am exceedingly grateful to them for their very useful contributions to the success of the Campaign Committee.

The National Committee were responsible for the production of detailed Brochures on this subject and over 100,000 of these Brochures were distributed around the Country to Business Interests. This Document set out to demystify the Problem and indicate the steps which Business should follow to identify the problems in their own Enterprises. It has been our experience that, when the initial foreboding of what is considered a very Technical Subject is overcome and people are prepared to get to grips with the issue, great progress can be made.

To bring the message to as wide an audience as possible, we organised a series of Conferences and Roadshows at Regional Centres. These involved Presentations by a variety of Expert Speakers and several Local Business interests were also involved at each location. These Sessions were held in Athlone, Cork, Dundalk, Galway, Limerick, Sligo and Waterford. These Conferences helped to spread the message to Provincial Areas that this issue would affect all Businesses around the Country.

The culmination of these Events was the National Conference held in UCD in early September which was addressed by An Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern, T.D. and other imminent international speakers. The Media coverage of that excellent Event has further helped to spread the Awareness message. Since then I, or officials of our Department, have addressed a number of Conferences organised by Professional Bodies - Accountants, Insurance, Irish Computer Society, County and City Enterprise Boards, IQPC and so on, delivering the same urgent message about the impending Year 2000 Computer Problem. I personally have availed of every opportunity to speak about this matter on radio and television and in the media, generally.

I would like to emphasise that the Government cannot solve this Problem for Business. Our role has been to create Awareness of the issue and alert the Business Community to the many aspects of this very complex Problem. Individual Enterprises must get to work to identify the issues as they affect them and devise solutions. This is primarily a Management issue, just like other Management issues which arise all the time in the running of business.

It is a matter for each Individual Business, and other users of Computer Systems, to assess the full implications of the Year 2000 on their particular Systems, to identify Problem areas and seek to find Solutions. This also affects, through the embedding of Computer Chips, much of the equipment used in Everyday Household and Industrial Activities, such as Lifts, Mobile Phones, Fax Machines, Security Systems, Environmental Control, Water and other Systems.

While many large Organisations have major Year 2000 Programmes underway to address the Millennium Date Problem, our Government is seriously concerned that the Small to Medium Enterprise sector, is not responding as well at it should.

This is borne out by the Results of a Survey, of the level of compliance of Irish Businesses undertaken recently by the Irish Computer Society and the Chambers of Commerce in Ireland on my behalf. The Results of the Survey found that 90% of Businesses understood the Business issues regarding the Year 2000 Problem and that over 70% have commenced action in their own Businesses. These are very encouraging findings and give us satisfaction that our Awareness Campaign has worked to a very large measure.

However, other findings of the Survey are less cheerful. Many Businesses have not completed their inventory of Software and Embedded Systems. Likewise many Businesses had not assessed possible damage to their Businesses from other enterprises in their Supply Chain . Smaller Businesses, in particular, still have a lot of work to do. I, along with my advisors, am continuing to monitor the situation and considering what further measures could be taken, to encourage and support Small Businessess in this project. As regards Central Government, this Problem is being tackled in several ways to ensure that the huge range of Public Services which the Government provide, will be maintained without interruption. All Government Departments and the Bodies under their aegis have prepared comprehensive Year 2000 Action Plans which identified the extent of Problems and how Systems needed to be changed, altered or upgraded to ensure that their Activities can run smoothly into the next Millennium.

The Government established an Interdepartmental Year 2000 Committee to oversee the changes necessary and this Committee has been hard at work to ensure that all Departments are taking the required corrective action.

The early findings of this Committee identified Problems similar to the issues faced by the Private Sector, namely, slipping Timetables, losses of crucial IT Staff, over-reliance on External Consultancies and problems in the areas of Office Equipment. The issue of IT Staff losses has been identified as a major one and with the increasing level of demand for IT Specialists as we near the crucial date, this Problem will be exacerbated.

A system of regular Reporting and updating by Individual Departments is in place, so that progress can be reviewed and action taken. While Inventories, Risk Assessments, Planning and development of Work Programmes have all been completed and remedial work is well underway within the Civil Service, a significant amount of work remains to be done, to achieve Year 2000 compliance. In some cases, development work on new IT Projects has been deferred so that scarce staff resources can be deployed on addressing the more urgent Millennium Problem.

Officers from our Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment have also represented Ireland at a number of international workshops, in Brussels and London, on the Year 2000 Problem. These meetings have thrown up some interesting pointers, in particular, stronger international co-operation is essential, particularly in relation to cross-border testing, given global economic interdependence and the particular interconnections in such areas as energy, telecommunications, transport and international financial interconnections:

• Overall, Y2000 International Telecomms. preparations under ITU Supervision are well advanced. They began in 1996, and should be completed on time. Co-operation among Members Worldwide is good, with most of the Advanced Countries and Major Company Suppliers helping out those in need.

• Bank of International Settlements in Basle began late in the day in February, last, to form a Joint Y2000 Council, composed of BIS Members, related Organisations and other International Financial Private Sector Groups. A number of Private Sector Financial Institutions (banking, finance, insurance) have come together to form Global 2000, a Voluntary Co-ordination Group on Y2000 issues.

• The Energy Sector seems to be of most concern. Some Energy operators need to be more transparent in their Preparations, Y2000 Status and contingency Planning. I do not include ESB in this category; they have been up front in communicating their Compliance Activities and the particular Problems which they have encountered

Some gloomy predictions have been made and, indeed, some frightening Vistas have been forecast. In the real World, Businesses need to approach this difficulty as they would any other Management challenge. The key factor in this challenge is that the Deadlines are so imminent and cannot be postponed.

The Threat which this Problem poses is a real one, which, if ignored any longer, by any Business, could have very serious implications for the ability of Companies to continue to operate. Every Organisation in the Country could potentially be affected, from Large Financial Companies with Mainframe Systems, to SMEs with PC-based Systems and even Companies with no Computer Systems at all. I am calling once again on them all to take the necessary Action now, to recognise the need for Contingency Planning particularly to combat the Threat posed by Embedded Chips.

I would like you to consider this in a wider framework. As you all know, the Economy is performing remarkably well at present. This Country needs this progress to be maintained without interruption. We are now in the healthy position of steadily reducing Unemployment; of creating very significant Numbers of New Jobs Annually and of having the Government Finances in a very healthy state.

This healthy position must be maintained. We live in a fast changing Business Environment with Global challenges ever-present. We should not be lulled into any false sense of security on the issue of maintaining our Competitiveness. Our Businesses must maintain their flexibility and capacity to do Business and seek out opportunities at all times. It would be a serious setback if this Year 2000 Problem was to put any brake on progress or hinder our Business Community from achieving their full potential in generating Economic Growth and creating Sustainable Employment. With Capital and Investment so mobile, we can never rest from the overriding issue of ensuring that we retain our Competitiveness, which has been such a crucial factor in our Economic well-being.

I know that many of you here today have been taking this issue very seriously. I congratulate the IQPC on organising this very interesting and comprehensive Conference and wish you all every success in your deliberations.