The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, should state publicly at what rate he thinks the pound should enter EMU, Opposition members of the Dail's Finance and General Affairs Committee have said.

Fine Gael's finance spokesman, Mr Michael Noonan, said the present uncertainty was leading to serious worries about inflation.

The Minister has agreed to appear before the committee on February 4th to discuss the single currency, but it remains unclear whether he will make a specific comment on what rate he thinks the pound should lock in at.

"Mr McCreevy owes the Oireachtas an explanation of what his policy is," said Mr Noonan.

Mr Noonan said there were advantages and disadvantages to going in at the central rate, but he pointed out that entering at 2.41 deutschmarks would mean all the social welfare increases in the recent budget being "wiped out".

"If we go in at the central rate, the purchasing power of everyone will be reduced," he said.

"The only thing that Mr McCreevy's delays are doing is letting the speculators make profits," he added.

He said that, with an Ecofin meeting scheduled for Monday, EU finance ministers should set about naming the 11 states who have been successful in fulfilling the EMU criteria.

Labour TD, Mr Derek McDowell said Mr McCreevy's "button lip" policy was not acceptable. He added that the recent Budget had already increased inflationary pressure by cutting capital gains tax and the top rate of income tax.

Democratic Left TD, Mr Pat Rabbitte said, up to this, the policy of the Minister had been correct, but there was now a danger of the issue "drifting on". "We cannot just slide into the first weekend in May with the policy still not announced," he said.

He said that recent low inflation figures "may have lulled us all into a false sense of security". Fianna Fail deputy, Mr Sean Fleming, said the Minister was right as the "ground might shift under him", if he decided to make a public declaration.