ACADEMIC COLLEAGUE WELCOMES HONOHAN - The Minister for Finance has announced that Patrick Honohan will become the next governor of the Central Bank.
After weeks of speculation and rumour, the announcement that the Trinity College economics professor will be taking up the post has been widely welcomed by his colleagues in the profession - including many of those opposed to the National Asset Management Agency.
Karl Whelan of UCD's economics department said Professor Honohan had an excellent international reputation as an economist and banking expert, and the other members of the ECB Governing Council would be 'thrilled' to have such a high quality colleague.
He said Patrick Honohan was on record as saying that the draft NAMA legislation should be amended, with some sort of risk-sharing mechanism.
Mr Whelan was one of 46 economists who put their name to a piece opposing NAMA. He defended the figures mentioned in the piece which had come under criticism from former Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald.
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NEWS IN BRIEF - Pharmaceutical company Merrion has reported a net loss of €2.3m for the first half of this year, compared with a loss of almost €2.2m a year earlier.
