Wrong economic forecasts a threat to pay deal, says O’Toole

UNION leader Joe O’Toole has accused some of the country’s top economists of consistently getting economic forecasts wrong and damaging attempts to secure a new partnership agreement.

Mr O’Toole, president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, also said some forecasters were predicting economic conditions that suited their employers rather than reflecting the reality on the ground.

“They’ve got away with murder,” he said. “They were saying we’d come out a billion on the wrong side at the end of last year and some were prognosticating that inflation would be in the region of 6%.