ECONOMIC RESILIENCE
An Irish Plan B
02 ECONOMIC & MONETARY RESILIENCE — AN IRISH PLAN B
Ireland should maintain a structured contingency programme for economic disruption, including disruption arising from changes within the European economic and monetary environment.
THE PROPOSAL
- Commission an independent legal opinion on the scope for a domestically issued digital payment instrument within Ireland’s EU and euro-area obligations.
- Assess possible structures: payment instrument, tokenised deposit, private digital money, State-backed instrument or another legally permitted form.
- Model consumer and business use for bills, groceries and other transactions without destabilising currency fragmentation.
- Establish strict convertibility and consumer safeguards if a model were legally permissible.
- Develop contingency plans for payment-system disruption, banking stress and loss of international payment access.
LEGAL / FEASIBILITY POSITION
The euro is Ireland’s currency. A separate Irish sovereign currency cannot be presented as an existing legal loophole.
DIGITAL IRISH POUND
Explore whether an Irish digital monetary instrument could legally and economically operate alongside the euro, with work focused on legal analysis, monetary stability, convertibility, taxation, consumer protection and cybersecurity.
CONTEXT
The ECB is separately developing a potential digital euro. Any Éire Láidir feasibility study should distinguish the Irish concept from that project.