Dr. Donal Donovan:

The process is that the staff, which is 98% of the people who work in the IMF, which is what I was, a civil servant - I was a Mr. Mody or a Mr. Chopra - conduct all of the discussions with countries. They prepare all of the analysis and all of the reports. The head of the IMF - Ms Lagarde at the moment - performs two jobs. One, she is head of the staff. She would have been my boss if I was still there. She is also chairperson of the executive board of the IMF. She has two roles. In her capacity as executive board chairperson she takes into account the prevailing broad view of member countries - all of the board members but probably some a little bit more than others, depending on the country. Her job is to approve the negotiating mandate for a team that would come to Ireland. She does that in her capacity as head of the staff. People cannot leave Washington unless there is an agreed position. She takes into account what she thinks the broad feeling of the board would be. It is through that process that decisions are made. The views of contributing member countries are definitely taken into account. If, for example, after negotiations, the staff come back with an agreement, it will not be a complete agreement unless and until it is signed off by the executive board of the IMF. The board will discuss the proposal to lend the money and the conditions attaching to the loan. There can often be substantial disagreements among members of the board. Some countries may wish for tougher conditions, others may think that the conditions are not tough enough, and so on. In controversial cases there can be extensive debates. At the end of the day the staff proposal is approved or not, and it is usually approved. The views of the board will definitely be taken into account the next time the staff have discussions. That is the way the process works.