To an extent, this favourable experience is likely to have been facilitated by the determination to adhere to the convergence criteria established for entry to the single currency.
Nevertheless, the chequered history of exchange rate volatility since the end of the sterling link meant that, when EMU finally got under way in 1999, it was ironically with some sense of relief that, less than 20 years after breaking the link between the Irish pound and sterling, Ireland abandoned currency autonomy in favour of the euro.