Dr. Kieran McQuinn:

It has been an issue for Ireland, one could argue going back to when we joined the euro area. Very often we found over the last 25 years that the economic cycle in Ireland has been slightly different from that in other countries across Europe. Interest rates and monetary policy are set at a euro area-wide level so it is what the euro area economy in general or in aggregate is doing, and very often we have been out of sync with that. We grew very fast in the initial part of the 2000s and have grown very strongly over the past five or six years at a time when most euro area countries have had sluggish growth. It is a phenomenon that we have had in the Irish economy. We expect very strong growth next year as well as very strong growth this year. That would put us at the higher end of the growth table, as far as most euro area countries are concerned. The bounce-back effect will be somewhat stronger in Ireland than in most European countries.