Coalition’s overspend of €1.5bn in budget compared to the boom years by budget watchdog

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 — IFAC — in its assessment of the Coalition’s pre-election spending, said it was not kept fully informed by the Government of its plans for a large supplementary budget.

The €1.5bn in additional spending plugged a large spending overrun in health, and included new measures on transport and social spending — all to be spent in the last few weeks of the current year.