Wim Duisenberg, the Dutchman who emerged bloodied and bowed as chairman of the European Central Bank from the 11-hour lunch at the first British summit in Brussels last May, is coming to Dublin in the autumn. He is probably the most important of a number of high-profile Europeans invited to the Institute of European Affairs, in North Great George's Street as part of its autumn programme, currently being finalised.
Duisenberg is guaranteed to make the mandarins at the Department of Finance very uneasy. Indeed, as his arrival will coincide with the final shaping of Minister Charlie McCreevy's second budget they hope he won't destabilise their balance sheets. They have several fears - that he will lecture the Government on what it should do with its, or rather our, surplus billions, that he will criticise the running of the economy to date or that he will flex his muscles, indicate who is boss now, and undermine their authority.
Only last week Duisenberg told Le Figaro that Ireland may be forced to tighten budget policy to offset interest rate cuts and help control inflation. McCreevy dismissed it as not binding on member-states.
So news of the arrival of the powerful one, even if it is a couple of months away, has not been greeted with any great pleasure in Kildare Street. One would imagine the surplus billions would make everyone, from the Minister down, very happy indeed. Not so. When they had no money, one financial guru told Quidnunc, no one bothered them very much and they just got on with making the best of a bad lot. Now they are constantly harassed by people, groups, interests, projects, and even ministers, looking for money, or tax cuts, or funding. And if they don't get what they're looking for, they complain when others do. Some argue that everything should go into paying off the national debt; others that now is pay-back time and spending the surplus will create more surplus.
Listening to the arguments, one mandarin was moved to quote the late Sean Lemass: "The Department of Finance is like an inverted Micawber, always waiting for something to turn down".