Ireland has failed to gain a single place on the top management team of the new European Central Bank, which will oversee the new single European currency. The failure is a setback, as it will limit the Republic's input in what is destined to become one of the EU's most important institutions. The lack of any senior jobs for Ireland is particularly notable given the success of other small countries - including Portugal and Finland - in securing senior representation.
Senior management at the ECB will have a strong influence on decisions taken by the executive board on issues such as interest rates. The ECB will have power to set interest rates across the euro zone from January 1st, 1999. The absence of Irish personnel is likely to mean that Ireland's interests - as a small state - could be pushed further down the ECB's agenda.
The senior management posts were announced yesterday in Frankfurt, where the governing council of the ECB held its first meeting. And while the details have yet to be made public, it is understood that Ireland has no representations among the top 23 executive management positions which are director general, deputy director general and directors. Ireland also has no representative on the six-person executive board. The highest ranking Irish executives will be two heads of division - the lowest management rank - in the research area.
As a small country, Irish economic conditions were never going to have a major impact on ECB decision-making, but the absence of Irish representation at senior level can only diminish this further. This will be a significant worry for the Irish authorities, who are already concerned about rising inflation at a time when interest rates are coming down in the approach to monetary union.
The only senior Irish representative at the ECB will be the governor of the Central Bank, Mr Maurice O'Connell, in his role as a non-executive director.
While the ECB says jobs are not divided up on the basis of nationality, sources insist that national interests are at stake and that representation at a senior level is vital. "This must raise questions about how seriously Ireland is taken here and about the extent of lobbying from the Irish Central Bank," one market source said.
Of the 55 management posts, 49 are being filled from within the existing structure of the European Monetary Institute (EMI), the ECB's forerunner. Among the senior representatives are some from member States which will not be participating in the euro initially, including Denmark and the UK.
The top post of adviser to the president, Mr Wim Duisenberg, goes to a Dutch man, Mr Lex Hoogdugin. Under that there are eight director-generals, including one each from Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Britain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Denmark. There are also seven deputy director-generals, a new grading which is understood to have been introduced at Spanish and Italian insistence. There are also eight directors.
Under this there are 20 heads of division - including two Irish people - but this grading is not seen as particularly influential.
Mr Duisenberg insisted at a press conference after the governing council meeting yesterday that the national distribution was "more or less similar" to that at the EMI. However, this is hotly disputed and, according to Mr Saunderson, at least one, if not two, Irish personnel working at the bank could have expected to be at least a director or deputy director-general.
Mr Duisenberg said the bank wants to avoid nationality in the appointment of staff "but at the same time we must ensure we have adequate representation of the various nationalities."