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UPCOMING EVENTS

Budget 2012

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About this Event

07 Dec 2011 @ 12:45

You can download the PowerPoint slides in PDF format here.

You can download the audio podcast of this event here. 

About the Speaker:

John FitzGerald is a research professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute. A past president of the Irish Economic Association, he is also a member of the Irish Energy Research Council and of the High Level Group on Green Enterprise. Within the ESRI Prof. FitzGerald is responsible for research on Macroeconomics, Energy and the Environment and for the Institute's Energy Policy Research Centre.

About the Event:

In the wake of Ireland's 2012 budgetary announcements by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin, and the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, Prof. John FitzGerald delivered a presentation evaluating Ireland's fiscal policy plans from 2012 to 2015.

Focusing on the macro-economic impact of previous and planned adjustments, he said that Ireland has unfortunately little choice but to pursue a pro-cyclical programme of spending cuts and tax rises, given severe external constraints.

After presenting figures on the evolution of Ireland's fiscal stance, its gross national debt, and the expected fiscal impact of measures taken between 2008 and 2015, Prof. FitzGerald evaluated the measures contained within the 2012 Budget as announced by Ministers Noonan and Howlin in December 2011.

His overall assessment was that Ireland was likely, on the basis of this budget, to continue to meet its targets as set out in its Memorandum of Understanding with the EU/IMF, provided that stability can be brought to the broader European situation. He raised a number of areas in which the budget arguably underperformed including environmental coherence, public sector reform and sensitivity to labour market issues such as poverty traps.

The final part of his presentation focused on Ireland's balance of payments position, something that Prof. FitzGerald thinks has been underreported in debates about the country's debt sustainability. He anticipates a greater balance of payments surplus in the years ahead than that which is projected by the Department of Finance. This would have significant beneficial effects on Ireland's overall position.

 

This content forms part of the E View project, which is part-funded by DG Communication of the European Parliament. 

 

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