Fiscal Council
18 results

Election 2020: In the scale of campaigning priorities, climate change is the loser
- Economy
- January 31, 2020, 03:15
After the 1977 election and before the new Fianna Fáíl government was formed, I travelled to Brussels with a senior Department of Finance colleague. O(...)

Department defends budgetary strategy against Ifac criticism
- Economy
- November 28, 2019, 13:08
The Department of Finance has hit back at criticism of its budgetary strategy from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (Ifac), insisting its plans were (...)

David McWilliams: The Government needs to cut spending now – but it will not
- Opinion
- June 15, 2019, 06:00
One of the most essential, but least well-understood aspects of macroeconomics is that economics is counterintuitive. This is because macroeconomics, (...)

Encouraging more women into the workforce would benefit economy
- Economy
- May 11, 2018, 01:00
There are many signs that the Irish economy is growing close to its potential output. In particular, the stress in the housing market, with rapidly ri(...)

Builders ‘can’t make viable profit’ on €320,000 apartments
- Irish News
- September 13, 2017, 01:00
It is not financially viable for builders to construct “affordable apartments” with sales prices of between €240,000 and €320,000, a Government report(...)

Our biggest economic threat is decisions we take ourselves
- Opinion
- July 31, 2017, 00:10
The Irish economy is currently experiencing a fall in unemployment not seen since the late 1990s. There are obviously many factors that are different (...)

The political pulse: Brexit pessimism and post-austerity choices
- Opinion
- July 22, 2017, 03:00
The MacGill Summer School, held annually in Glenties, Co Donegal, and which has been taking place all this week, is easy to parody. Official Ireland t(...)

Budget 2016: John McHale stands by spending criticism
- Economy
- October 15, 2015, 08:59
The chairman of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council Prof John McHale said on Thursday he stands over a warning he issued over the level of overall spend(...)

Noel Whelan: Auction politics are back with a vengeance
- Opinion
- September 25, 2015, 06:00
Reading many of the pre-budget headlines in recent weeks I was reminded of an exchange I had with a member of the audience at the MacGill summer schoo(...)

John FitzGerald: ‘neutral’ budget seems right for 2016
- Economy
- September 15, 2015, 07:30
Between the mid-1970s and 2007 the budget for the coming year was presented to the Dáil in December, immediately before the new financial year started(...)