The European Central Bank will cut interest rates at a slower or faster pace depending on the strength of underlying inflation and demand, ECB chief economist Philip Lane said on Monday.

"The subsequent pace of rate cuts will be slower if there are upward surprises to underlying inflation (especially in relation to the underlying dynamics of domestic inflation and services inflation) and the level of demand (in view of the implications of demand conditions for the medium-term inflation outlook) and will be faster if there are downward surprises," Lane told an audience in Dublin.

(Reporting By Conor Humphries; writing by Francecso Canepa in Frankfurt)