That said, there is little doubt that the Department of Finance also has responsibilities in this area. Indeed, the MOU reflects the high level of cooperation on financial stability issues which operates in practice between the Department and the Central Bank. 5.
This does not, of course, mean a return to earlier living standards, because there has been quite a bit of productivity growth in the meantime. Besides, Irish wages were arguably supercompetitive around 2000. The main point, though, is that here too reference to the millennial benchmark helps avoid a serious error in policy discussions.