continues to be a symbol of strength for the european project and one of its biggest success stories. and as we enter a new era of technological innovation, the development of a digital euro represents a logical and critical next step. by ensuring public money is available in digital form, we can future - proof our monetary system while maintaining trust and inclusivity for all european citizens. the digital euro will reduce costs by making financial transactions cheaper. it will facilitate innovation and competition and it will increase the resilience of the european payments system. conclusion 2 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches last year, the central bank of ireland established a dedicated office in brussels to strengthen our capacity to engage effectively with eu institutions, providing timely input into the policy - making process, sharing our supervisory experiences and navigating the eu's legislative framework. we want to be a proactive and effective voice within the eu, playing our part in growing europe's prosperity. while there are indeed challenges ahead, there are also opportunities. by working together, as ambassadors, as policy makers, as regulators, as central banks, and by developing what someone1 once called a " dangerous unselfishness ", we can shape a resilient and prosperous future for our europe. thank you once again for the opportunity to speak with you today. 1 martin luther king, 3 april 1968 3 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches

ecb is taking the necessary decisions to get inflation back to target but of course, monetary policy is set for the euro area as a whole, whereas fiscal policy remains a national competence. so, as we come up to the budget, it is important that fiscal policy doesn't add to our own domestic inflation problem. it would be counter - productive for domestic policy to stimulate demand and result in in a period of higher and more prolonged inflation in ireland than currently expected. it would damage the competitiveness of the irish economy and potentially undermine its ability to deliver sustainable growth in living standards. we are a small open economy with high debt levels and are vulnerable to shifts in the global economy. we tend to experience greater extremes compared to larger and more diversified economies, which has implications for both price and financial stability. we must take the opportunity to enhance medium to longer term resilience in both the public finances and the economy as a whole. in this context i want to again welcome 2 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches the minister's proposal to establish a long - term savings fund, which takes into account the current windfall nature of excess tax receipts. the impact of monetary policy on lending, deposits and consumers monetary policy works through multiple channels. a central channel is the banking channel, via pass - through to credit and deposit rates. we are seeing monetary policy transmit to the irish economy, with increases in the interest rates on loans and deposits over the past year. this transmission has been particularly strong in terms of new loans to, and term deposits from businesses. but, to date, irish banks have lagged behind euro area banks with respect to pass - through of interest rate increases to the household sector. in terms of household deposits, our latest evidence ( some of which we recently published ), shows that pass - through has been slow, both relative to euro area peers and our own experience in the last tightening cycle. there are a number of potential factors contributing to slow pass - through. for example, deposit to loan ratios in irish banks are particularly high, which means banks don't need to attract deposits. moreover, competition dynamics in the market for banking services are very different now, relative to the last tightening cycle. consumer inertia may also be a factor, as we have seen less of a shift into term deposits than in other euro area countries. around 94 per cent of deposits from households are in demand deposits and current accounts, rather than term deposits or notice accounts. in terms