The French have a phrase for it: savoir faire. Knowing how to do something properly and politely. And nobody does it better than Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, the governing council of which met in Dublin yesterday.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the vice-president and I are very pleased to welcome you to today's press conference here in Dublin," he began. We thought we were in charm school. "I would like to thank [Central Bank of Ireland] governor Hurley for his kind hospitality and to express our special gratitude to his staff for the excellent organisation of the meeting of the governing council."

Mr Trichet's only direct comment on Ireland's economy was to welcome the fact that house prices were "going in the right direction". At least this was something. Buried somewhere in this phrase was - at the very least - some acknowledgement that the Irish property market is not yet in the right place.

This matters because yesterday's was no ordinary ECB governing council meeting. It was held during a tight election race in a country with the highest spending growth, credit growth and inflation rates in the euro zone.

By keeping his remarks general, Mr Trichet commented on these issues but only in a way that makes boring copy.

When asked by The Irish Times about a hypothetical country which bore a striking resemblance to Ireland in which public spending and credit growth were 25 per cent and 40 per cent respectively, and inflation doubling to 5 per cent, Mr Trichet remained the model of discretion.

"I have absolutely no idea of which country you are speaking," he said. But then he said "it seems to me it's a country which is growing rapidly. If this is the case - and I don't know that this is the case - then you have to do on the fiscal side everything, all what is necessary, in terms of regular and sound fiscal policy."

If we were French, perhaps we would have had the linguistic resources to appreciate Mr Trichet's subtlety.