. i would also like to acknowledge the extraordinary service rendered by former deputy governor, mr. c j p siriwardana, who retired from the bank service last year. i am also thankful to the members of the monetary policy consultative committee, financial system stability consultative committee as well as the monetary board advisory audit committee for their valuable views and suggestions, which helped us immensely in better calibrating our policies and operations. last and most importantly, i would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the assistant governors, senior heads and heads of departments, particularly the director of economic research and the staff of the economic research department for their effort in producing this policy document. it is my pleasure to acknowledge my colleagues in the governor ’ s secretariat who support me on a day - to - day basis. i would be lost without their assistance. in my view, the greatest asset of the central bank is its staff without whom we cannot deliver our tasks and achieve our objectives for the nation. i thank all staff of the central bank who serve the nation with professionalism, technical excellence and integrity and more importantly with vigour and enthusiasm even amidst turbulences. i would like to conclude by quoting ben bernanke, professor of economics and former chairman of the u. s. federal reserve's board of governors : “ the more guidance a central bank can provide the public about how policy is likely to evolve the greater the chance that market participants will make appropriate inferences ” i believe that policies and plans unveiled in relation to the monetary and financial sector would be instrumental in ensuring continued stability in our economy. the effectiveness and the success of those policies cannot be realised without your support as stakeholders, and i am sure, as in the last year and in the past, you would continue to extend your maximum support going forward. thank you and i wish you all a happy and prosperous new year 2019.

in its sepa 4th progress report, the eurosystem went as far as to state that " cheques... will... ultimately disappear when it becomes clear to their users that other means of payment provide better service. by 1 january 2008, it is expected that national banking communities in the euro area will have put in place a strategy for promoting the use of alternative electronic means of payment... " and that " by the end of 2010... the use of cheques... is expected to follow a clear downward trend... ". to ensure that the national payments initiative achieves its full potential, the irish banks must offer electronic payment methods that are : • safe and efficient ; • easy to use ; • accessible to all, and • no more expensive than existing national instruments. the public authorities also have an important role to play in ensuring the success of the programme by promoting, in respect of their own payments business, the use of electronic means of payments. conclusion to conclude, i hope that i have been able to clarify for you the role of the central bank in the payments area. i will reiterate that we stand ready to assist ipso, the irish banking community and others involved in any way possible to deliver on sepa and the national payments implementation programme. i would like to thank you for your attention, and also would like to extend to the participants in this afternoon's'breakout sessions'my best wishes for a successful outcome to their deliberations.