“When you start this job, it’s a seven-year job, you know it’s a seven-year job and you’re focused on just doing a seven-year job ... and I’m not really spending much time agonising about what will happen next,” Central Bank of Ireland governor Gabriel Makhlouf said this week in response to a question about whether he wanted to stay on as governor when his current term ends in August.
But he must have some idea? “Honestly I’m completely chilled out about it ... I had no expectations when I started that I would be doing this job for longer,” he added.
Makhlouf’s sidestepping of the question could have won him a place in Andy Farrell’s back line.
His seven-year stint as Ireland’s financial regulator (having been the top official in New Zealand’s treasury department before moving here) has been book-ended by two mammoth crises: the pandemic and Donald Trump’s second term in the White House.
At 66, the State’s retirement age, Makhlouf’s chance of securing a second term would appear slim. While central bank governors are, under the law, eligible to be reappointed for a second seven-year term, the last couple – Honohan and Lane – only served one.
There are others that might fancy a chance to traverse the global financial stage, not least Sharon Donnery who was reportedly pipped at the post for the job last time by Makhlouf and who, after three decades with the central bank here, is currently serving on the European Central Bank’s supervisory board.
“In a world where central bank independence may be at risk or is under threat, or certainly up for debate, making sure our central banks have strong leadership and strong independence is really the part that’s important to me,” Donnery told the Business Post last week.
The Central Bank’s three deputy governors: Mary-Elizabeth McMunn; Vasileios Madouros or Colm Kincaid may also be eyeing the top job.
“This is a great job, I love the country, I love the fact that it’s in Europe, I love the role that I’m playing at the ECB, I’m enjoying it but I’m not gonna do it for the rest of my life,” Makhlouf said.
It will ultimately fall to Minister for Finance Simon Harris to decide if Makhlouf gets an extension or if someone new is appointed to the role.
