Committee review finds ‘rainy day fund’ may be in breach of EU rules

The Government’s ‘rainy day fund’ may not be strong enough to help Ireland cope with another “severe economic crisis” — and may breach EU stability deal rules even if the multibillion-euro fund is used.

The claims have been made in a draft version of the Oireachtas budgetary oversight committee’s pre-budget review, which has been seen by the Irish Examiner and is due to be published next week.

As part of Oireachtas rules established in response to the ‘new politics’ era after the February 2016 general election, all Government plans for upcoming budgets must be examined in various degrees of detail by a cross-party group.