Hopes Draghi will appear for Dáil committee

RENEWED moves are afoot to get European Central Bank president Mario Draghi to attend the Dáil finance committee to debate the Irish and EU economies in the wake of Brexit.

Dublin Fine Gael MEP Brian Hayes, who is heading the move, said it was also necessary to discuss the future of the ECB policy of quantitative easing (QE), which has huge impact on economic stability. The move would be a first following on from Mr Draghi’s refusal in spring 2015 to attend the Dáil banking inquiry.

At the time, the ECB president had engaged in dialogue with the national parliaments of France, Germany and his native Italy. But he refused to testify to the banking collapse inquiry, arguing that he was primarily answerable to the European Parliament, and that most of the events happened on the watch of his predecessor, Jean-Claude Trichet. Mr Hayes has written and spoken to the Oireachtas finance committee chairman, John McGuinness of Fianna Fáil, on the matter and he stressed that any such meeting is a matter for the committee members. But he said the continuance or otherwise of QE was vital and Mr Draghi (left) had made similar visits to several other national parliaments.

The Fine Gael MEP argued that any such visit would serve better by moving on from the banking inquiry. He said QE, which has seen the ECB buy government and other loan bonds and provide more cash to EU banks, had a huge economic benefit.

Mr Hayes also said that the ECB policies were based on struggling economies across the eurozone. This was a contrast to Ireland’s position of high growth and it required detailed debate with the ECB boss.