ESRI’s Alan Barrett to chair Government’s prebudget National Economic Dialogue

The incoming director of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), Prof Alan Barrett, will chair next week's National Economic Dialogue as the Government opens prebudget talks with unions, employers and Opposition politicians.

Invitations to the meetings with Ministers in Dublin Castle on July 16th and 17th have also been extended to representatives of the diaspora, the academic community and research institutes.

Government figures have described the initiative as “an important element of Ireland’s new budgetary framework” and said it would not be a return to the social partnership model.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Joan Burton will address the opening session, entitled “The Landscape for Budget 2016”. The event will be livestreamed, along with the other major sessions.

Macroeconomic outlook

The ESRI will make a presentation on the macroeconomic outlook, while the

Irish Fiscal Advisory Council

will deliver a synopsis of EU fiscal rules.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin will address the final plenary session, after Prof Barrett gives a closing summary.

Mr Noonan and Mr Howlin first referred to the National Economic Dialogue in the spring economic statement. Community, voluntary and environmental groups are also expected to participate.

“The objective of the dialogue is to facilitate an open and inclusive exchange on the competing economic and social priorities facing the Government as we prepare for Budget 2016,” the letters of invitation state.

Robust dialogue

The Ministers have called for a robust dialogue, “which will examine the realistic options open to the Government within the available fiscal space” of about €1.2 billion-€1.5 billion.

“This will be shared on a 50/50 basis between expenditure and tax measures.”

Other Government Ministers will chair smaller break-out sessions, which will not be live-streamed. Suggested themes for the sessions include “Working for the best, preparing for the worst: challenges to our economic and fiscal development”.

Mr Barrett is head of the economic-analysis division of the ESRI, an adjunct professor of economics at Trinity College Dublin and a member of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council. He previously worked at the Department of Finance.