Keynote speech by Philip R. Lane, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, University College Cork Economics Society Conference 2025

Cork, 20 March 2025

It is a pleasure to participate in the annual conference of the UCC Economics Society. Today, I wish to discuss the digital euro, which is an important project at the ECB.^[1] Draft legislation has been proposed by the European Commission and is currently under consideration by the European Council and the European Parliament.^[2]

A few years ago, archaeologists excavated two silver coins at Carrignacurra Castle, not too far from here.^[3] The first was a groat (a coin worth four pennies) from the 1200s depicting Henry III; the second was a coin from the 1400s featuring Edward IV. These two coins indicated a society that regarded precious metal as the embodiment of intrinsic value and closely associated money with sovereignty.

Over the centuries, the currency circulating in Ireland has changed multiple times. From 1927 until the launch…