asked the Taoiseach if he has any proposals to develop the EUROPEN campaign; if he will publish a report on its effect to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

13.

asked the Taoiseach the activities which are proposed for the Government's 1992 Awareness Campaign in the next six months; the public role he personally intends to play in that campaign; and if he will report on the success or failure of the campaign to date in terms of preparations by Irish business for full Internal Market conditions.

I propose to take Question Nos. 12 and 13 together.

In addition to the 1992 related activities of individual Ministers, the EUROPEN Bureau will undertake three main initiatives in 1989:

(i) an extensive market research survey to gauge the extent of the preparedness of Irish industry and services businesses for the Single European Market and, in particular, for the intensification of competition. The results should be available by May;

(ii) the publication, with the Irish Business Bureau, Brussels, of a monthly news and information report on progress towards the completion of the internal market. This will appear in Business and Finance and Irish Business; the first edition was published on 30 March;

(iii) the commissioning in consultation with the Sectoral Development Committee of a series of analyses of the likely implications of the single market on a broad range of economic sectors of the Irish economy. The studies will be published for the guidance of the sectors concerned.

The Taoiseach will participate in the campaign as appropriate.

To date, the reports and comments which I have received confirm the Government's view that the campaign has been successful in arousing the awareness of the business community to the importance of proper preparation for the single market. The market research survey will help us to measure the situation more accurately and give us guidance on the future activities that should be undertaken by the EUROPEN campaign.When the results are available, I will consider whether a report as suggested by Deputy Quinn, should be published.

Arising out of that comprehensive reply, let me ask three supplementary questions. First, is the Minister of State aware that at a recent CII economic conference held in a Dublin hotel a number of very senior and prominent businessmen admitted that very few Irish companies had responded to the exhortation of the Taoiseach to establish a 1992 committee with a person responsible for monitoring that development within their own organisations? Secondly, do the Government propose to follow the Taoiseach's advice and ask each of the Departments to establish the kind of committee that he told everybody else to establish? Thirdly, does the Taoiseach propose to give to workers in those companies which fail to prepare for 1992 the right to undertake studies to ensure the safeguarding of their jobs, even if the proprietors and employers of the firms are foolhardy enough to ignore it?

There is already a committee of senior civil servants at assistant secretary and principal officer level who monitor the activities of the 1992 campaign on a monthly basis. Secondly, I am aware of the meeting to which the Deputy refers. The EUROPEN campaign for the first six months was devoted to awareness of 1992 and what it involves for the various industries and companies. The various State companies are now endeavouring, working on an individual basis company by company, to try to ensure that each company appoint, as Deputy Quinn says, a 1992 person within the company. Each of the State companies has already done that. All the Ministers, at the various seminars and conference held around the country, exhorted employers to ensure, first, that they were prepared, had done the necessary homework required and, secondly, that they kept their employees informed of all the various changes, extensive in some instances, that may have to take place for the Single European Market.

With great respect to the Minister of State, I put down my question using the word "personally", in order to involve the Taoiseach in this discussion.

Join the queue.

I am disappointed that the Taoiseach is not answering questions on this vitally important matter for the future of the country. I say this with respect for the extremely competent Minister of State.

In view of the undertaking given to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Secondary Legislation of the EC, when we were debating the Cecchini report in the House, that the committee would be given a supplementary/complementary role in the 1992 awareness campaign, may I ask the Minister of State why there has not been any further action in involving the Oireachtas joint committee in the 1992 awareness campaign?

I have more or less answered the first part of the question.The first six months of the campaign were basically devoted by various Ministers to awareness of the implications of 1992 for Irish industry and businesses throughout the country. Each Minister has been asked as far as possible to involve the Oireachtas joint committee. However, the committee about which I spoke with regard to Deputy Quinn, who monitor the 1992 campaign, have been considering, now that the campaign has moved into a more intensive sphere, that particular attention be paid to what role the Oireachtas joint committee should play.

The words that "particular attention" be given to the role of the committee are a direct repetition of what was said here almost a year ago. Why has there been no movement whatsoever to debate any of the ten major reports of the Oireachtas joint committee?That committee, as was pointed out in this House and as was indicated to the Minister of State when she came to address them, consider that these reports, all of which have to do with the approach of 1992, are extremely important.Could the Minister of State, on behalf of the Government, give the reason that the reports of that committee have been ignored?

As a result of a meeting I had with the Oireachtas joint committee, as Deputy Hussey knows I raised this matter with the Government Chief Whip who had discussions with the other party Whips in relation to that matter. I have ascertained now that the Government Whip has offered to make time available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to debate reports from all Oireachtas committees, which would include the Deputy's committee.

I want to hear Deputy Quinn. I also wish to hear Deputy Barnes.

A final brief supplementary question.

It must be a brief question, Deputy. I think that I gave the Deputy quite some latitude.