Gabriel Makhlouf: Address to the Consulate General of Ireland and IHK Frankfurt
Remarks by Mr Gabriel Makhlouf, Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, at a Consulate General of Ireland and IHK Frankfurt event, Frankfurt am Main, 19 July 2022.
The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.
It is a pleasure to address you today. I would particularly like to thank our Consul General Anne-Marie Flynn for organising this event.
German – Irish economic relationship
Ireland and Germany have excellent relations, politically, culturally and economically. These relations have been documented as far back as the 7th century.
When reading about the relationship, I learned that in 686 an Irish monk Kilian travelled to Rome and then on to pagan Würzburg, where he converted Duke Gozbert to Christianity.
Kilian had a rather unpleasant ending after telling Gozbert that it was against the Bible's teachings to marry his brother's widow. When Gailana, the widow, heard this, she had Kilian and his followers beheaded. In 752 the first bishop of Würzburg, Burchard, had a cathedral built on the spot where they were executed and their remains placed in the crypt.