Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Examination of EU Fiscal Rules (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Mr. Sebastian Barnes:
This is an important issue. As this initial period can be from four to seven years and is then assessed over the following ten years, that means it is potentially looking at economic forecasts 17 years ahead, which economists rarely do because it is so hard to predict. One big question is whether this set of rules will still be here in five years. Those numbers can move around a lot. The amount of adjustment to some of the assumptions needed over a ten-year period is very sensitive. That is why it would be helpful for the Commission to publish that kind of information, in order that people can assess them.
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