Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We will continue our discussion on quantitative easing. EUROSTAT provided a breakdown of inflation or the harmonised index of consumer prices, HICP, for the period from 2003 to 2014. The figures show the rate of inflation in the European Union in general, the eurozone and individual member states. I share Mr. O'Brien's view that the eurozone was a little late in adopting quantitative easing. Why did it act at such a late stage, given that the Federal Reserve in the case of the dollar, the Bank of England in the case of sterling and the Bank of Japan in the case of the yen all engaged in quantitative easing much earlier than the European Central Bank? Surely European competitiveness was eroded by the ECB's refusal to respond to other central banks. Who decided not to engage in quantitative easing and why?