Ireland's innovative bond exchange
The Celtic tiger is a good nickname for Ireland's economy which continues to roar ahead. Unfortunately, like the tiger economies of south-east Asia, rapid growth rates can bring troubles in their wake. Ireland - which has had almost double-digit GDP growth for each of the last five years - now has to try to curb incipient inflation.
The trouble for Ireland is that interest rates are set elsewhere and the present euro zone rate at 3% is too low. Maurice O'Connell, governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, admits that with rates set by the European Central Bank, his hands are tied. "The Irish economy is at a very different stage of the cycle to everyone else in Emu. So, what may be good for the euro zone as a whole may not necessarily be to Ireland's advantage," he says.
"It will take some time to see the advantages of Emu. But if you're trying to manage the exchange rate of a small country with conflicting forces, such as sterling on the one side and the euro zone bloc on the other, it's a difficult world that we live in."