Professor John FitzGerald:

Interest rates are there, going back to our experience in the 1970s, to manage the rate of inflation. The rate of inflation in Ireland is too low now, but the purpose is to manage the rate of inflation across Europe and anchor it. The ECB has done a good job in that regard. Other things one would use interest rates for, and make it appropriate for the Irish economy, are fiscal instruments. That is my point, that a monetary union-----