Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My point is that if, for the purpose of this discussion, we take it that the fiscal council will be the independent agency - it may not be, but there is merit and sense to the suggestion - the buck will stop with the fiscal council. I understand the point Mr. Palmer is making that it can negotiate. However, if the fiscal council, after endless nights of negotiation, turns around to the Department and states it is still not willing to endorse its macroeconomic forecasts, then the Department is not in compliance with the regulation. I do not know how many staff are engaged in macroeconomic forecasting in the Department of Finance or what their role will be in the future, given that the Department will not be able to base its budget arithmetic on the forecasts it produces. At the end of the day it will be the fiscal council, for the sake of this argument, that has the final say.