Former Bundesbank President Karl Otto Pohl almost failed to make it to Ireland earlier this week. Travelling from Germany the venerable banker assumed Ireland had signed the Schengen agreement, arriving at Frankfurt airport without a passport or any photo ID the authorities there were slow to let him through. It was only when a policeman recognised him from his former days that the necessary paperwork was done.

Perhaps it is a central bankers' disease but the former head of the Irish central Bank Maurice Doyle had a similar experience a few years ago. Going into France he managed with the help of the embassy to get through without his passport, but on the return a few days later he had more trouble. It was only after more than an hour in the interview room that the authorities eventually sent him forth.