Mr. Brendan Halligan:

President Trichet, I wish to thank you for this very comprehensive and erudite presentation, which remained faithful to its task - that of reviewing the past, assessing the present and shaping the future. I think its many dimensions will merit great attention and study in the future. I want to thank you personally for the time and thought you have put into this presentation, particularly your proposals on the future governance of the eurozone. And I think we would all wish to thank you for delivering this speech here in Dublin, and to our institute. So thank you again.

The first respondent to the presentation ... is that from Dr. Michael Somers, who is a founding member of the Institute ...formerly with the Department of Finance, he was Secretary General of the Department of Defence and, of course, is well known to us as the first CEO of the National Treasury Management Agency from 1990, which arranges Irish debt and manages the national debt. He chaired a group that established the European Bank for Reconstruction Development, has been a member of the European Union Monetary Committee, he has a Legion d'honneur from France and has many other honours in his CV, too numerous to mention on this occasion. Suffice it to say that he is somebody whose advice we have always valued and his contributions have always been particularly helpful. It gives me great pleasure then to ask Dr. Michael Somers to make the first response to President Trichet's address.