Everyone knows that while the Irish are enthusiastic about having one currency across Europe, the British are lukewarm. But according to the Governor of the Bank of England, it has always been thus.

Governor George known to his friends as Steady Eddie was at the Institute of European Affairs in Dublin this week and gave a fascinating insight into the past. As long ago as 1850, he said, the Archbishop of Dublin wrote to England's Prince Albert extolling the benefits of having just one currency for the world.

"The trouble, and often fraud, occasioned by having to change all one's coins in going from one state to another, and the continual fluctuations in the rate of exchange, for instance, between the franc and the sovereign, are evils which no one is unaware of," quoted Mr George from the archbishop's missive.

The archbishop even had suggestions for the design of the coinage that it should have no indication of nationality on the face of it which could awaken "national jealousies".

A View from the Third Floor of the IFSC will resume on June 5th