Patrick Honohan

Biography

Patrick Honohan is the tenth Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland and was appointed on 26 September 2009. Previously, he was Professor of International Financial Economics and Development at Trinity College Dublin from 2007. Prior to this, he spent almost a decade at the World Bank, where he was Senior Advisor on financial sector operations and policy. From 1991 to 1998 he was Research Professor with the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) in Dublin and in the periods 1981-82 and 1984-86 he was Economic Advisor to Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald. He also spent several years as an economist at the Central Bank of Ireland (1976-81 and 1984-86), and at the International Monetary Fund (IMF; 1971-73).

During his career in the Irish public service and at the ESRI, he contributed policy advice directly and indirectly to successive Irish governments. During his time at the World Bank, his work entailed the provision of policy advice to central banks and governments around the world. He also played a key role in the design and implementation of the IMF-World Bank Financial Sector Assessment Programme, as applied to developing countries from the time of its launch in 1999.

A graduate of University College Dublin, he received his PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1978. He has taught Economics at the LSE and at the University of California-San Diego, the Australian National University and University College Dublin, as well as at Trinity College. In recent years his research has mainly focused on monetary and financial sector policy.