Mr Maurice O'Connell will be remembered as the last governor of a sovereign Central Bank of Ireland a capacity in which he will oversee the abolition of the pound and its replacement with the euro.
He appears reasonably sanguine at the prospect; although because he speaks in the taciturn words of a typical central banker, it is impossible to be sure.
Born in north Kerry, Mr O'Connell is said to be a character who is easily underestimated. "You might get the impression that he's a simple Kerry man, but he can twist almost anyone around his fingers without any problem," sources close to him say.
Others say that those who have underestimated the governor have almost always come off the worst. He speaks very softly and does not say a lot; but those who know him say this hides a very keen mind.
While at the Department of Finance he was noted for his ability to talk on the telephone while simultaneously writing a speech. He is also considered a hands-on figure, prepared to write a draft submission and then pass it by those further down the ranks. Insiders say his output at the Department of Finance was phenomenal.
Since moving to the Central Bank in 1994, Mr O'Connell has had a difficult job in which his room for manoeuvre has been limited by the constraints imposed by membership of the European Monetary System.
He points out that the exchange rate and interest rates have almost always been determined by outside influences. As he says, after German reunification the Republic was forced into raising interest rates when it would have been better for the economy to lower them. The State is now in exactly the opposite position, being forced to lower rates later this year when the Bank would actually prefer them to be higher.
Nevertheless, the Bank must take some credit for the remarkable economic performance of the last few years which was managed without accelerating inflation at least until now. Mr O'Connell is patently worried about price rises currently building up. He insists that the Bank is hoping that inflation will peak this year, but he admits it will be several years before Ireland's presence in the euro zone actually puts a cap on inflation here.
The timing of rate cuts is one element which could help limit the amount of inflation in the economy, particularly at the end of the year when the Dublin region will effectively hand over control to Frankfurt.
But Mr O'Connell still refuses to be drawn on the timing of the rate cuts and insists that seven months is a long time in money markets.
But if the bank was to vote on rate rises today, he would have to vote that way, he says. Adding that most officials have been inculcated with the belief that they must defend national interests. "How that will turn out when we are all meant to be taking the whole European economy into account will be interesting," he adds.
Of course, the other serious determining factor in the rate of Irish inflation is sterling. Mr O'Connell readily admits that it would make it easier if Britain was to enter the single currency along with us. However, he is reasonably confident that sterling's behaviour in the meantime should not be too problematic for us.
Sterling should fall, as the Bank of England governor, Mr Eddie George, said here. "Its value is exaggerated," he says. "And I do not think the Bank of England will allow it to fluctuate widely, I would be surprised if the Bank of England presided over sterling falling through the floor."
He also warns that the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, will have a very difficult job in framing this year's Budget. "It is a very difficult balancing act," he says. But he refuses to outline the precise detail of what is required in the Budget, saying only that the Bank would be concerned that the overall thrust should not be stimulatory.
There is also no reason to fear a big brother European Central Bank (ECB), he insists. The new bank will merely give advice and make comments to the same extent as the Central Bank has always done. There will be no need for Mr McCreevy to pass his Budget by the bankers in advance that will only be required by the bureaucrats in Brussels.
But there are still many operational issues to be decided. On Tuesday, the first full council meeting will get the process under way. One of the most carefully watched by the markets will be the issue of the publication of minutes. The President, Mr Wim Duisenberg, has already said he would prefer publication to be delayed by 16 years, but Mr O'Connell insists he still has an open mind on the issue, providing they are only a summary and not verbatim.
The new bank will also be deciding on which type of targeting to use in setting interest rates. The likely candidates are inflation and monetary or money supply type targets favoured by the Bundesbank. The governor says that while he is reluctant to use the word "fudge" it will probably end up being a compromise.
Mr O'Connell is also very reluctant to part with any of the Central Bank's free reserves. From next year, a certain amount will be handed over to the ECB, probably about £350-£450 million, he says. But that leaves £1 billion which many politicians and indeed the Department of Finance would like to get their hands on.
But Mr O'Connell favours any decision on the use of the excess reserves being taken on a European-wide basis by central bankers. That is likely to result in the maintenance of the status quo and the governor insists the new bank could probably benefit from the extra backing the reserves would give.
He insists the money would only be used by the National Treasury Management Agency to pay off debt and that would only result in very small savings when compared with the return which the Bank earns which he refuses to disclose. He is not in favour of the funds being used on a capital project such as putting LUAS underground and says this would not be agreed across the EU although the Government would have to make its own decision.
Asked about the dominance of the larger countries on the board of the ECB, Mr O'Connell insists that the executive members will all have allegiance to the ECB. They will probably be ambassadors in the first year. He insists that he never countenanced the idea of being among their number. And he is said to be uncomfortable in high financial society abroad and he is even said to much prefer the joys of good Irish cooking to fancy Continental cuisine. He has always been adamant that he would not countenance a few years in Frankfurt to be an executive member of the new ECB board. "I belong here," he says. The latter position is one which Mr McCreevy believes he could have swung; now Mr O'Connell will travel regularly to Frankfurt as a non-executive member of the council.
But even in Dublin, Mr O'Connell was never a regular in Reillys or Foleys the Department of Finance's watering holes preferring to socialise with friends from outside the civil service. While he had few close friends in the Department, he did not have enemies. "He always did things in a very nice way and never went around cursing and swearing at people, rather he encouraged them," one source noted.
When he first went into the governor's post in the Central Bank, moving from his position as second secretary in finance, Mr O'Connell insists he felt right at home, as it has almost an identical culture to the Department of Finance. But others remember that he found the traditional aloofness of the governor's office on the seventh floor difficult and soon became more hands on than his predecessors.
Mr O'Connell was born in Moyvane in north Kerry and took a degree and an MA in ancient classics. After a year teaching, including a spell in Switzerland, he returned and joined the Department of Finance in 1962.
He spent almost his entire career there, apart from short spells in the Department of the Public Service and the Department of Economic Planning and Development.
He has worked across nearly every area of the department, spending almost 10 years on the budget side during difficult times in the 1980s. He moved to monetary policy in 1987 and was a key government official during the currency crisis and a long standing member of the monetary committee.
He lives in Templeogue on Dublin's southside and has four children two boys and two girls two doctors, a banker and a third-level student.
