As John McHale prepares to step down from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, he can scan across the positives of the Irish economy since the watchdog was set up at the height of the crisis.

Michael Noonan’s 2017 budget is already on course to break EU rules even before any breaches in the Lansdowne Road public pay agreement are accounted for, the country’s fiscal watchdog has said.

The budget Michael Noonan presented last month breaks European Commission rules and does not take into account potential additional spending under breaches to the Lansdowne Road public pay accords, the country’s fiscal watchdog has warned.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has dismissed concerns the minority government’s €1.3bn budget breaches EU rules.

The Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald has defended Budget 2017 as "prudent" and "careful".

There is a warning this morning about the higher-than-expected spending increases in Budget 2017.

A top economic advisory group says the Finance Minister Michael Noonan must provide details of how the Programme for Government will be paid for.

The Government has a €6bn black hole in its spending plans through 2021, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) said yesterday.

What is at stake is a radically different use in other hands of potent instruments of control — namely time and information, writes Gerard Howlin

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney’s businessman brother has publicly questioned how so many people have been “left behind” in what he described as the “unprecedented economic recovery” of recent years.

The election may not have been called yet but political parties are already trying to elbow in on our fiscal space.

Michael Noonan has denied being threatened by the head of the European Central Bank (ECB) — but claims his predecessor Brian Lenihan was.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan and Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin risked the economic recovery in order to deliver a “political” budget ahead of the general election, a European Commission report has found.

The Government are not worse than Fianna Fáil in terms of excessive spending increases, Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin insisted yesterday.

The country’s budget watchdog said the Coalition’s late decision to spend €1.5bn in additional spending in 2015 was similar to ill-advised decisions taken by previous administrations during the boom years.

The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council watchdog, IFAC, has said that the Government was guilty last month of exploiting a loophole to deliver an unannounced splurge in spending in 2015.

THERE must have come a moment yesterday when the Taoiseach and his senior cabinet ministers asked themselves what more they can do to win the support and affection of the Irish electorate.

Senior Coalition figures are confident the budget will pass a crucial EU test despite financial advisory chiefs warning the spending plans are too expansionary, and that the money should not be injected into the economy.

The body set up to advise the Government on budgetary policy spent more than €600,000 carrying out its work last year, despite the Coalition ultimately ignoring its recommendations.

The Government’s spending watchdog has rubberstamped the Coalition’s plans for a giveaway budget but also warned that the public finances must be protected from future shocks.

The country’s fiscal watchdog has delivered a huge endorsement of plans by Finance Minister Michael Noonan to deliver a budget package of up to €1.5bn in spending increases and tax cuts next month.

The head of budget watchdog the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council said a body such as IFAC could scrutinise budget plans of opposition parties to probe whether their budget sums were credible.

The Coalition has been put on notice by fiscal watchdog the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council that its plans for a pre-election giveaway budget in October will break the EU’s strict debt-reduction rules.

Budgetary watchdog the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has put the Coalition on notice to change its budget in October because it believes plans for spending hikes and tax cuts will fall foul of the “letter and spirit” of Europe’s strict fiscal rules.

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.

The Government's decision not to implement one more austerity budget will result in the national debt remaining €10bn higher in 2018, according to the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council.

The Government had no choice other than to make huge budget cuts over the past six years, according to the head of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council.

The underlying health of the economy is not as good as official growth figures suggest, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) has warned.

We could see a general election where a large number of independents are elected

While most people will breath a sigh of relief that Budget 2015 gave back more than it took away, one man who may be more disappointed than most is Prof John McHale of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council.

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.

A report by the Fiscal Advisory Council recommending a €2bn adjustment in the Budget is not "left on the shelf, un-touched and un-read" according to Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

A spring budget should be brought in to give people earlier benefits from the improving economy, the chairman of the Dáil’s finance committee said.

IT’S that time of year again. The great and good of public life pack their buckets and spades and head off to the wilds of Donegal to muse over the road less travelled.

The head of the Government's budget watchdog has again insisted that the Government should cut a full €2bn in the next Budget.

Plans to push through a €2bn package of spending cuts and tax hikes in the October budget have been abandoned.

Former secretary-general at the Department of Finance, John Moran, will take at least three months gardening leave before he is clear to take up a new position.

IT’S very odd how the more things change, the more they stay the same.