Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome members of IFAC. Its presentations are always valuable and maybe I will start off with that. We know the council is mandated to do an assessment and endorse the macroeconomic forecast provided in the stability programme update, SPU. IFAC does not have the mandate with regard to the summer economic statement, however. Therefore, it does not produce any report after the summer economic statement. While there have been few deviations, there have been changes. Obviously, we do not have concrete projections for inflation in the summer economic statement. In addition, some other things are missing. Does Mr. Barnes believe the mandate of the council should be expanded to allow it to carry out an assessment after the summer economic statement is published as opposed to him coming in here and giving his views as a normal witness? Would it be helpful if there were a formal process?