Lane would be 'fantastic' Lagarde replacement - Makhlouf

Updated / Monday, 2 Nov 2026 12:59

Central Bank Governor Gabriel Makhlouf said Ireland's Philip Lane, who is chief economist of the European Central Bank, would be a "fantastic" replacement for Christine Lagarde.

However, Mr Makhouf cautioned did not know if it was legally possible for Mr Lane to serve another term on the executive board of the ECB.

Last week Christine Lagarde announced she would stand down from her position as president of the ECB in February instead of serving her full term until October 2027.

Mr Maklouf said the names that had been mentioned so far "are all absolutely credible".

There has been speculation about Dutch ex‑central bank head Klaas Knot, Governor of the Bank of Spain Pablo Hernández de Cos, and Bundesbank head Joachim Nagel as possible successors to Ms Lagarde.

Mr Makhlouf also said that the Irish Government should put more money into the two long term savings funds which have been set up by the Coalition to retain some of the windfall corporation tax receipts paid by multinationals.

"It should be higher to be honest," he said. The funds are due to have accumulated €24 billion by the end of this year.

He added the funds were set up to pay for changes which were "not speculative" such as demographic challenges and climate change.

He said these costs are "definitely going to impact the economy and definitely going to pose costs which will need to be addressed."

Mr Makhlouf also warned about the danger of a correction in markets because of the bubble in AI investment.

He said "whatever shock" could happen would commence "in the US, across to Europe and then to the rest of the world. We are paying very close attention to that."

He also said there was a "massive shift against further development of data centres" and this could impact on the valuation of AI investments.

He said a correction in markets could "be triggered" by that.