Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 20 September 2023

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and Nevin Economic Research Institute

Professor Michael McMahon:

I will let Dr. Casey come in but I will take a small part of this question.

An important point is there are other countries, Finland being one, that also have a spending rule like this. It is also not legislated for, but it is the guide used to assess the policy. Our biggest issue with the rules at the moment is the EU ones do not apply and under the proposed reforms they will not bind for Ireland. In the absence of that, namely, if we do not have some domestic fiscal rule, we will be weakening the credibility of the Irish fiscal framework and again that is-----