Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 3 December 2015
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform
Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
2:00 pm
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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It seems that we are still in the middle of an extreme pro-cyclical space. In other words, we came from a very deep trough. Typically, after a very deep trough, one has a very strong bounce back. That is what is happening at the moment. Ideally, a Government should be flattening out these ends of the cycle. It seems from some of the research and the estimates that have been produced by the Department of Finance that this is not being taken into consideration at all. For example, the profile of the approach that is being taken to corporation tax and some other elements of the economy seems to be significantly out of sync with what the Department of Finance is saying. Is Professor McHale happy with the level of research and analysis available to the State for medium-term forecasting?