, the standard deviation of inflation in ireland minus inflation in the uk in this period approached 2 percentage points – even when the war years are excluded. gerlach and stuart ( 2014 ) discuss irish monetary and price data for those years. bis central bankers ’ speeches would augur poorly for an economy too closely linked with it. yet, lacking a clear alternative policy, and fearful of switching to too tough a regime, the irish authorities had left any decisive step to change currency policy on the long finger. 4 suddenly the landscape changed when, triggered by the french government ’ s desire to rejoin the currency “ snake ” arrangement according to which continental currencies maintained a joint float against the us dollar ( the chart of exchange rate movements thus tracing a snake - like appearance ), a movement among leading european politicians to create a ‘ zone of monetary stability in europe ’ forced the irish government to make a choice. a new type of exchange rate regime, tying ireland into the seemingly more vigorous, less volatile, continental economies with their recent record of lower inflation seemed to be on the cards. should the irish government join the exchange rate mechanism ( erm ) of this new european monetary system ( ems ), even at the risk of having to break the sterling link ( if the uk did not join )? perhaps the new arrangement really would represent something different and more acceptable that the austere snake – tougher than the sterling link, but weaker than the latter. after some initial hesitation, largely motivated by the fear of the regime being too strict, but eased by some ad hoc european subsidies ( also granted to entrants italy and denmark ), ireland joined the erm, while britain stayed out. the outcome did not correspond to expectation. the erm proved to be a much softer or more lax exchange rate regime for ireland than the sterling link. not only did sterling – still the main trading partner currency – strengthen as a result of north sea oil and the anti - inflation policies of the thatcher government, but the erm itself failed to live up to its branding as a zone of monetary stability. in particular, with its many realignments, the erm lacked a “ nominal anchor ” which would ensure price stability. this allowed less disciplined member states frequent opportunities to offset wage competitiveness drift with adjustments to the peg. devaluations of the irish pound against the dm – core currency of the erm – were thus more frequent than had been envisaged, occurring about once a year in

ship ’ s owners receiving compensation. in 1700, the ship returned to dublin and the captain, eoghan massey, claimed that his men had spent five years in captivity at the hands of algerian corsairs, who had used the ship to engage in acts of piracy. as compensation had been paid out two years previously, the ownership of the ship ’ s cargo became a matter of intense debate and controversy. the same panel of merchants, which had settled the debate in 1698 on the ship ’ s fate, met once more in order to decide that all monies remaining following the proper compensation of the owners should go towards a fund for the alleviation of poverty among dublin ’ s “ decayed merchants ”. out of this case emerged the ouzel galley society, which was founded to act as a permanent arbitration body to deal with similar shipping disputes that might arise. the ouzel galley society was wound up in 1888 and its functions subsumed by the dublin chamber of commerce and the commercial buildings company, whose premises and assets the bank purchased in 1963 to facilitate the building of the dame street tower. this is a unique archive collection documenting aspects of the economic and social history of ireland in the eighteenth and nineteeth centuries. the oldest record we hold is the imports and export ledger for ireland from the year 1786. in conclusion, i would like to cite the mission statement of the new service : “ the mission of the archive is to collect, preserve, promote and make accessible records charting the history of the bank and its contribution to the development of ireland. ” with those words in mind, i am delighted to officially launch the central bank of ireland archives. 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches