The Government has established a committee to ensure emergency and critical services make a smooth transition to the new millennium.

The National Year 2000 Emergencies Co-ordination Committee, chaired by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, will include representatives from each Government department, and the business sectors.

A spokeswoman at the Department of Finance said the committee's role would be to ensure adequate co-ordination between key sectors during the changeover to January 1st, 2000. Global computer systems are under threat from a programming oversight which may cause shutdowns as clocks fail to register the transition.

The committee's first meeting is scheduled for September 22nd, and it would meet "as often as necessary" after that, she said. A Department of Finance statement says all Government departments and public bodies had now taken steps to address the Y2K problem. "Practically all" critical business and service delivery systems have been deemed compliant, with those outstanding expected to do so by the end of September.

The new committee has been established to monitor emergency management arrangements, and participate fully in any international response measures that may be activated by a Year 2000 incident.

Announcing the initiative, Mr McCreevy said: "The committee will ensure there is full co-ordination between the key services so that any disruptions that might arise will be responded to quickly and their effects minimised to the greatest extent possible."