philip r lane : opening of ireland's central bank dockland campus exhibitions speech by mr philip r lane, governor of the central bank of ireland, at the opening of ireland's central bank dockland campus exhibitions, dublin, 27 april 2017. * * * i am delighted that you could join us this evening to celebrate the opening of our visitor centre with two exciting and complementary exhibitions : the euro exhibition and pounds, shillings and independence. i am particularly delighted that stephanie van delft of the communications directorate at the european central bank is here with us this evening. stephanie, along with director general communications, christine graeff, deputy director communications, thierry bracke and director banknotes, ton roos was instrumental in sharing the euro exhibition with us. but why a visitor space in a central bank, you may ask? there is a simple answer to that question : we want people to understand what we do and why we do it, in order to facilitate greater transparency and understanding of our public service role. central banks across the world moved to the front pages of the newspapers in 2008 and have largely stayed there ever since. in that time, there has been extensive debate about monetary policy, financial stability policy and many other aspects of central banking that were previously considered arcane knowledge. but while the effects of ecb or federal reserve or national central bank decisions are widely reported upon and communicated, there is less focus on the motivation for those decisions. the central bank of ireland ’ s mandate is very clear : safeguarding stability, protecting consumers. every decision we take is in the public interest – albeit some of those actions may not be universally popular! explaining the rationale for those evidence - based decisions is important to us. while central bank independence is enshrined in the institutional and legislative framework of the european union, as well as domestic law, the flipside of that independence is accountability. and as a public institution, we take our obligations to be fully accountable for our actions very seriously. communications and accountability are therefore key components of our strategic plan 2016 – 2018. we demonstrate that accountability in several ways : our annual report and annual performance statement will be published next week ; we engage with oireachtas committees ; we publish minutes of our commission meetings ; we disclose operational information on our website ; and we explain our policies through a series of public speaking events and topical publications. the visitor space is another important element of that accountability. we share this vision with dublin city council, which requires that landmark

mervyn king : monetary policy developments speech by mr mervyn king, governor of the bank of england, to the birmingham chamber of commerce annual banquet, birmingham, 23 january 2007. * * * lord mayor, lady mayoress, president, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, two weeks ago your chamber of commerce called on the bank of england to take manufacturing more seriously when it sets interest rates. in arguing against an interest rate rise, the birmingham chamber said, “ we would urge the bank of england to once again consider the effects this will have on the beleaguered manufacturing sector ”. it will not have escaped your attention that bank rate did rise in january and has now increased by 75 basis points since the beginning of august. so tonight i want to explain why the monetary policy committee took that action, and why the bank believes that the control of inflation is essential for the success of birmingham – and all british – manufacturing. last week we learnt that inflation, as measured by the consumer prices index, was 3 % in december, the highest level since the monetary policy committee was set up almost ten years ago. if it rises by one further decimal point to 3. 1 %, i shall have to write an open letter to the chancellor explaining why inflation has risen to more than one percentage point above the target of 2 %, and what measures the committee are taking to bring inflation back to target. rpi inflation has risen to 4. 4 %, the highest rate since december 1991. and rpix inflation – the target which governed our decisions until december 2003 – has risen to 3. 8 %, which would have triggered a letter under the old target. in 1997, i suggested that “ given past experience of inflation volatility, it is likely, even allowing for the change in policy regime, that the mpc will have many opportunities to restore the lost art of letter writing to british life ”. it is really very surprising that no opportunity has yet arisen. as i stressed back then, it is important to understand – and many commentators seem to misunderstand – that the inflation target is not a range of 1 - 3 %, but a target of 2 % at which the monetary policy committee continually aims. so an inflation rate of 3. 1 % is simply a trigger for a public explanation of why inflation has risen above target and what the committee proposes to do about it. letter writing is a key part of the accountability provisions of the monetary policy framework created in 1997, and