The EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Mr Pedro Solbes, has warned small businesses that they cannot postpone the introduction of the euro and must be prepared for the changeover early next year.

The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, is also disappointed at the lack of preparation by small companies. She was commenting on the latest Forfas EMU Business Campaign survey, which shows that more than half of all Irish firms have no formal plans for the euro changeover next year.

The lack of any co-ordinated plan by such a significant number of companies was highlighted by Mr John Travers, chief executive of Forfas, in Loughrea, Co Galway, yesterday when he presented the survey results at the conference.

The study was conducted for Forfas by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), which sampled 834 firms by telephone during December and early January.

Some 53 per cent of firms said it was too early to implement changes when citing reasons for not planning.