Comment: ‘Prudent’ budget was anything but that

In the foreword to his department’s key pre-budget economic forecasts in June, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said he was determined to follow a “prudent” path because pumping up spending “in an economy at full employment entails risks”. The Summer Economic Statement, which was published four months before the budget, uses the word “prudent” a further nine times.

In its official assessment of October’s budget, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Advisory Council watchdog has deemed that the budget was anything but prudent.