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Budgeting and public expenditures

OECD Review of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council

 

16 February 2021

 

The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council was formally established in 2012 to help strengthen Ireland’s fiscal framework after the global financial crisis. In addition to functions such as assessing and endorsing the government’s forecasts and assessing compliance with fiscal rules, the Council also assesses the government’s fiscal stance.

 

The Council performs well relative to international standards, meeting or exceeding the OECD Principles and EU-IFI Minimum Standards in all areas except those relating to its leadership arrangements and legal underpinning for access to information. The Council has strengthened fiscal management in Ireland by developing new tools for assessing compliance with fiscal rules and measuring the output gap that are tailor-made for the Irish economy and have been adopted by other key stakeholders. Its reports and outreach activities have improved the awareness of fiscal issues among the wider public. The Council demonstrates high levels of transparency regarding its methodologies and is perceived as independent and non-partisan.

 

The review also identifies several challenges that the Council faces and sets forth recommendations on resources, access to information and research focus, among others, to safeguard the Council’s effective contributions to the management of Ireland’s economy and public finances.

 

Read the report: