OECD Review of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council

The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council was formally established in 2012 to help strengthen Ireland's fiscal framework after the 2007-08 global financial crisis. In addition to functions, such as assessing and endorsing the government's forecasts and assessing compliance with fiscal rules, the Council also assesses the government's fiscal stance.The Council performs well relative to international standards, meeting or exceeding the OECD Principles for Independent Fiscal Institutions and EU-IFI Minimum Standards in all areas except those relating to its leadership arrangements and legal underpinning for access to information. Over almost ten years, the Council has helped strengthen fiscal management in Ireland. For example, it has developed new tools, tailor-made for the Irish economy, for assessing compliance with fiscal rules and measuring the output gap; these have also been adopted by other key stakeholders. Furthermore, its reports and outreach activities have improved the awareness of fiscal issues among the wider public. These achievements are noteworthy given the small size of the Council and are facilitated by its skilled and ambitious Secretariat. The Council demonstrates high levels of transparency regarding its methodologies and is perceived as independent and non-partisan.