When asked 10 days ago in Frankfurt by the Sunday Tribune how nervous Irish investors should be in the face of rising interest rates, Trichet was more vocal than he has ever been on booming properly markets in the Eurozone.

He said that countries including Ireland are displaying "abnormal behaviour" in relation to their property markets and added that the continued boom is a "real issue" and a "real problem" that needs to be addressed.

He called on governments in Ireland and other member states such as Spain which are also in the midst of booms, to act to "cool down" the property markets.

Asked last week to elaborate on what the ECB defines as "abnormal behaviour" in property markets, the bank declined to comment. Instead it added that the "ECB has stated that the strong dynamism in residential property prices observed in some economies or regions warrants ongoing monitoring.

Ireland is one of them."

An ECB spokesman said Trichet's recent comments regarding property prices were a "renewed note of caution in this field".

While the ECB maintains that it must consider the whole eurozone area, rather than individual countries, when setting interest rates, Trichet's recent comments are certain to have been picked up by the intended audience. . . government mandarins. But just how they'll be interpreted is another question.

The government will most likely be loath to interfere in the property market, especially before an election, and economists are already calling on it to refrain from meddling.