Race now under way to succeed Lane at Central Bank
CENTRAL Bank of Ireland Governor Philip Lane has been confirmed as the latest appointment to the executive board of the ECB in a move that now kicks-off in earnest the race to succeed him at the Central Bank here.
The Department of Finance put out a call for expressions of interest in the top Irish job yesterday, launching an open recruitment process and seeking qualified candidates to put themselves forward. The appointment is ultimately in the gift of Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, and the Department has tapped headhunting firm Merc Partners to help manage the search.
The job advertisment posted yesterday said candidates should have “extensive experience in managing a large organisation” and of “financial and economic policy-making experience” , although neither Philip Lane or his predecessor Patrick Honohan would have fitted that bill before their appointments.
Both were senior academic economists at Trinity College Dublin before moving immediately to the top job at the Central Bank.
This time around, Central Bank Deputy Governor Sharon Donnery is expected to throw her hat in the ring. The secretary general of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Robert Watt, and European Investment Bank vice-president Andrew McDowell are also both tipped to run.
Mr Donohoe welcomed Philip Lane’s appointment to the ECB board, which the minister had sponsored following a recommendation of the Ecofin Council of Finance Ministers on February 12.
“Philip is an outstanding economist, and has made an important contribution over the last four years as Governor of the Central Bank,” Mr Donohoe said.
In Frankfurt, Philip Lane will succeed Belgium’s Peter Praet as chief economist and is the first Irish person to sit on the six-member ECB executive board which decides policy for the Euro area in conjunction with the 19 heads of national central banks.
Central Bank Deputy Governor Sharon Donnery is now expected to throw her hat in the ring