Conference

January 19, 2015

Registration and Welcome Coffee

Welcoming remarks

Brendan Howlin, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform

Session 1

9:15–10:45

Stabilizing and Healing the Banks

What were the macroeconomic implications of the banking crisis and of policies to address the crisis? What lessons can we draw from banking policies in Ireland’s program in terms of stabilizing the crisis and bringing the banks to healthy operation? These policies include the recapitalization in the first half 2011 together with deferral of later stress tests, the restructuring into pillar banks and banks under resolution, the deleveraging of the going concern banks’ balance sheets over 2011-13, and the efforts to address nonperforming loans. What challenges remain to having a well functioning banking system?

Dirk Schoenmaker (Duisenberg School of Finance)
Paper Presentation

Moderator: Laura Noonan (Reuters)

Discussants: John Fell (European Central Bank)
Presentation

Jonathan McMahon (St. James’s Place)

Ann Nolan (Department of Finance)

10:45-11:00

Coffee and tea

Session 2

11:00–12:30

Putting the Budget on a Sound Footing

What lessons can we draw from fiscal policies and their implementation in the program? Should the pace of fiscal consolidation have been faster or slower taking into account growth, debt sustainability, and political feasibility? Was the composition of measures appropriate? Have fiscal institutions and transparency been adequately strengthened? How best to complete the fiscal consolidation process?

Antonio Fatás (INSEAD)
Paper Presentation

Moderator: Dan O’Brien (Independent Newspapers and IIEA)

Discussants: Gillian Edgeworth (Wellington Management and St. Anthony’s College)

Tom Healy (Nevin Economic Research Institute)
Presentation

István Székely (European Commission)
Presentation

Robert Watt (Department of Public Expenditure and Reform)

12:30–13:45

Lunch

13:45–14:15

Keynote Speech

Patrick Honohan, Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland

Session 3

14:15–15:45

Ireland’s Market Access and Euro Area Policies

What lessons can we draw from the effect of European policies on Ireland especially regarding the loss of market access and it being subsequently regained? Such policies include limits on burden-sharing with senior bank creditors, large scale ECB funding, cuts in the interest rate and extensions of maturities on EU funding, the Promissory Notes deal, banking union and OMT? What lessons to draw for protecting Eurozone stability?

Barry Eichengreen (University of California-Berkeley and University of Cambridge, UK)
Paper Presentation

Moderator: Seán Whelan (RTÉ)

Discussants: Alan Ahearne (NUI Galway)
Presentation

Agnès Bénassy-Quéré (University of Paris, Council of Economic Advisers)
Presentation

Colm McCarthy (University College Dublin)
Presentation

15:45-16:00

Coffee and tea

Session 4

16:00–17:15

High Level Panel Discussion

Lessons from Ireland’s program for other countries and for Ireland going forward? Which policies were most successful and why? What should have been done differently? How did Ireland maintain sufficient social cohesion and avoid industrial strife yet still achieve overall strong implementation of the program? What needs to be done to secure Ireland’s full recovery from the crisis? How should these remaining challenges be addressed? What are the broader lessons for stability of the euro area?

Moderator: Wolfgang Münchau (Financial Times)

Participants: Michael Noonan (Minister for Finance)

Benoît Cœuré (Board Member, ECB)

Valdis Dombrovskis (Vice President, European Commission)

Christine Lagarde (Managing Director, IMF)