There should be no little embarrassment in Government circles over Ireland's failure to secure a single place on the top management team of the new European Central Bank (ECB), which will oversee the single currency. It is an unaccustomed setback for the tiger economy of Europe, which has the highest level of growth in the EU and, perhaps, the brightest medium-term economic prospects.
It is true that Ireland as a small country could scarcely expect a pivotal role in ECB decision-making but it does seem curious that the ECB decided not to draw any of its senior management skills from its star pupil. The sole senior Irish representative will be the governor of the Central Bank, Mr Maurice O'Connell, in his role as non-executive director. Remarkably, Ireland has no representation among the top 23 executive management positions nor on the six-person executive board. By contrast, countries like Britain and Denmark, which have opted out of EMU initially, have secured director-general and deputy director-general posts respectively.
The ECB will say that appointments to the bank are not made on the basis of nationality but on the experience and expertise of each individual nominee. But this is only part of the story. Appointment to the ECB, no less than the European Commission in Brussels, tends to reflect the balance of power among the member states. The first duty of every official who works for a European body like the ECB is to perform his/her tasks with the wider European interest in mind. But it would be naive to assume that officials do not also keep a "watching brief" on policy issues as they affect their own member states.
Traditionally, Irish EU commissioners have performed this task very well in Brussels. The concern must be, however, that Ireland will have little input into policy formulation and decision-making in Frankfurt. The Government - and, indeed, the Central Bank - are open to the charge that their lobbying effort in advance of the ECB appointments was pitifully inadequate. On this occasion, the necessary effort does not appear to have been made or the critical importance of these appointments was not fully appreciated. There are disturbing echoes here of the devaluation fiasco in 1992/93 when the Government's diplomatic efforts in Brussels and Frankfurt were belated and misdirected.
On this occasion, the circumstances may be equally serious: the ECB will have the power to set interest rates across the euro zone from January next. The impact of its decisions will be felt in every home and every business in this State. The Government should have done all in its power to ensure that the Irish interest was protected. It could have built on the evident goodwill towards Ireland and the international recognition of our recent economic performance. Instead, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy is vulnerable to the charge articulated by Mr Proinsias de Rossa yesterday that he was "asleep on the job" at a critical time for Ireland's economic future. The Central Bank might also explain what appears to have been a serious dereliction of duty.