Government choosing to ignore fiscal killjoys

For generations, governments have employed the tactic of commissioning reports on awkward issues in an effort to stave off the rainy day when the issues will have to be dealt with if somehow they cannot be forgotten in the meantime.

It remains a neat way to kick the proverbial can up the street.

The current Government established the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council in 2011 and put it on a statutory footing 18 months later, in 2012.