Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 18 April 2018

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Stability Programme Update: Discussion

3:00 pm

Photo of Colm BrophyColm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Paschal Donohoe. I remind members and witnesses to turn of their mobile phones due to interference. I thank the Minister and his officials for taking the time to make themselves available to our committee. The committee's role is to carry out the ex antescrutiny of budget 2019 and in this context we are meeting to discuss the latest stability programme update, SPU, published yesterday afternoon. The SPU is the key document to the budget cycle and sets out the three-year forecast for the Irish economy, which must be endorsed by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, and updates the fiscal forecasts for three years. I invite the Minister to make his opening remarks.