Noonan denies budget was ‘missed opportunity’

The Government has staunchly defended its recent fiscal and budgetary proposals by directly addressing concerns from one of the country’s leading economic think-tanks.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan yesterday published an open letter to Professor John McHale — chair of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council — responding to criticism of Government economic policy outlined in the Board’s Fiscal Assessment Report in November.

The council took a couple of high profile pre-Christmas shots at the Department of Finance, saying the October budget was not tough enough and had been a “missed opportunity” to further accelerate the reduction of the country’s budget deficit and debt levels.