Professor John McHale:

As the Deputy said, the political implications are not our business. Our job is to identify what we think is the most appropriate fiscal policy from a macro-economic perspective. Our remit does not get into the details of tax and expenditure policy but to look at it at the level of deficits and debt and identify the most appropriate policy. We are non-partisan. We are driven by our view of the appropriate policy but as Professor Barrett said, even though we are non-partisan, part of the job of independent fiscal institutions is to raise certain political or reputational costs of inappropriate policies. That becomes even more important when all the political pressures are pushing in a particular direction. Those political pressures, not just in Ireland but in other countries as well, can lead to mistakes in fiscal policy. There is a large amount of literature on deficit buyers and pro-cyclicality where those pressures probably becomes strongest in good times. That can lead to pro-cyclical policies that are followed later by being forced into extreme contractions so they are over-expasionary in the good times and forcibly overly contractionary in the bad times. Ultimately, to go back to Deputy O'Donnell's question, it is people who suffer from those policies.

Part of our role is to be that advocate not just for the present where the political pressures are strongest, but also for the future. However, it is also about people. It is not something that is just about the economy and not about people. Giving that voice to the future, and people's interest in the future, is part of our role. It is when those political pressures are strongest, recognising that not everything we say will be done. We are not at all surprised and we understand the very difficult pressures that not just Government politicians, but all politicians, are under, which are very much in the present, but our role is to be that voice for the future.