The Minister for Finance, Mr. Brian Lenihan T.D., announced today that the Government will request President McAleese to appoint Professor Patrick Honohan, currently Professor of International Financial Economics and Development at Trinity College Dublin, as the next Governor of the Central Bank. The current Governor, Mr. John Hurley will retire on the 25^th September 2009.

Announcing the Government’s selection of Professor Honohan for the position of Governor, the Minister for Finance stated:

“Professor Patrick Honohan is highly regarded internationally as an expert on banking and financial systems. His experience in the various positions he has held during his career, including the Central Bank, the World Bank and the academic world will be of enormous value to him in working through the difficulties which the Irish Financial System faces.

Throughout this financial crisis I have sought the views of Professor Honohan and he has consistently provided valuable advice. I look forward to working with him in his new role.”

Retirement of John Hurley as Governor of the Central Bank

The Minister for Finance also paid tribute to Mr. John Hurley who announced his decision to retire from the position of Governor of the Central Bank earlier this year:

“In the past year, I have worked extensively with Mr. John Hurley. He has played an indispensable role in conjunction with the President of the European Central Bank, Mr. Jean Claude Trichet, in providing extensive support to Ireland’s financial system and its economy.

I am particularly grateful to Mr. Hurley for staying on beyond his initial term which ended last March, so as to assist in stabilising the financial system.”

Throughout his public service career Mr. Hurley has made a very significant contribution to Irish life. He has been appointed Secretary General three times in his career: in the Department of Health and Children and twice in the Department of Finance.

Governor Hurley is Chairman of The Audit Committee of the European Central Bank and has been a member of the Board of the Central Bank, the Advisory Committee of the National Treasury Management Agency and the Council and Executive Committee of the Economic and Social Research Institute.

He has served as Chairman of the Top Level Appointments Committee which makes recommendations to the Government on appointments to Secretary General and Assistant Secretary posts in Government Departments. He has also been a Board member of the European Institute of Public Administration, Maastricht, the Louvain Institute for Ireland in Europe and the National Centre for Partnership. In addition he was a member of the Executive Board of the World Health Organisation, Geneva.

The Minister concluded: “I want to wish Mr. Hurley well in what I trust will be a happy and fruitful retirement.”

3rd September, 2009

Notes for Editors

Patrick Honohan Biography

Patrick Honohan is Professor of International Financial Economics and Development at Trinity College Dublin. He took up this position in April 2007, after spending almost a decade at the World Bank where he was Senior Advisor on financial sector policy. Previously he was Research Professor with the Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin (1990-98), Economic Advisor to Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald (1981-82 and 1984-86) and he also spent several years as an economist at the Central Bank of Ireland (1976-81 and 82-4), and at the International Monetary Fund (1971-73).

His position in the World Bank entailed the provision of policy advice to numerous central banks and governments around the world. He was influential in the design and implementation of the IMF-World Bank Financial Sector Assessment Program as applied to developing countries from its initiation in 1999.

In his earlier career in the Irish Public Service and at the ESRI he contributed policy advice directly or indirectly to successive Governments.

A graduate of University College Dublin, he received his Ph.D. in Economics from the London School of Economics in 1978. He has taught Economics at the LSE and at the University of California–San Diego, the Australian National University and University College Dublin, as well as at Trinity College Dublin.

In recent years, Dr. Honohan's research has mainly focused on monetary and financial sector policy. His specialist work on financial crises includes an evaluation of how different policy approaches have affect the overall cost of these crises in both developing countries and advanced economies. He has also studied exchange rate regime choice. More recently, he has been working on access of low income households to financial services. His books (jointly authored) include Systemic Financial Crises, Finance for Growth, Financial Liberalization: How Far, How Fast? and Finance for All?

His academic work on the Irish economy includes analysis of the fiscal crisis of the 1980s, the performance of Ireland in the euro zone and before that in the European Monetary System, the role of multinational corporation profits and the interaction of unemployment and migration.

He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and Past-President of the Irish Economic Association. Patrick Honohan is married with one son.

Professor Patrick Honohan’s full Curriculum Vitae is available at http://www.tcd.ie/Economics/staff/phonohan/