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“HARD DECISIONS” will have to be taken to overcome the “severe challenges” facing the Irish economy, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Jean-Claude Trichet, said in Dublin yesterday.

Mr Trichet told members of the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) think tank that he was “optimistic” about the prospects for the Irish economy, but he cautioned that the Government must adopt an economic policy that “convincingly reduces future public deficits” and recovers lost competitiveness.