Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The European Central Bank is independent under law in the exercise of its functions. It takes a very adverse view of politicians commenting on what it does. Our representation at the European Central Bank is through the Governor of the Irish Central Bank and there is no political representation in any forum associated with the ECB. We will never be in such a position, unless it is a specific Irish issue such as the promissory notes, on which I engaged in conversation with the authorities at the European Central Bank.

I do not know about the comparisons with the United States. We are at a different point in the cycle. The US recovery preceded ours in Europe. We are perched on the verge of a fairly strong European recovery but of course there are risks. If one turns on the television this evening one will see what the Russians are doing in eastern Ukraine. Suppose gas supplies to Europe were cut off in the winter. One could see what that would do to growth in Europe. We are living in a big bad world with many unknowns and risks, but we must travel hopefully and allow for the risk. I hope the European Central Bank will do something for liquidity in Europe, because additional liquidity would stimulate demand and some demand stimulation is needed at present. Whether it will, I do not know. I would have thought there was movement by the Governor of the Bundesbank, Mr. Weidmann, in some things he said in the past three weeks, but how far he is prepared to move I am not sure. There is a different legal system and historic background.

Everybody will have read the stories about the Weimar Republic, where one had to fill a wheelbarrow with deutschemarks to buy milk and a loaf of bread in Berlin in the 1930s. A generation of people, the grandfathers of the present active German population, lost all their savings. They lost everything and were totally wiped out. It is a family memory and a political memory in Germany. The Germans are terrified of inflation. That is the reason the European Central Bank was built on the basis of close to but not more than 2% inflation. That is the mission statement on inflation in the European Central Bank.

It will not go for a walk on the wild side, but it might do something.