Irish Fiscal Advisory Council

the irish fiscal advisory council is an independent statutory body whose purpose is to provide an independent assessment of official budgetary forecasts and proposed fiscal policy objectives. it comprises five council members and a secretariat of seven. the council was established on an interim basis in july 2011 and put on a statutory footing in december 2012 by the fiscal responsibility act. our mandate • to endorse, as we consider appropriate, the macroeconomic forecasts prepared by the department of finance on which the budget and stability programme update are based. • to assess the official forecasts produced by the department of finance. these are the macroeconomic and budgetary forecasts published by the department twice a year—in the stability programme update in the spring and in the budget in the autumn. • to assess whether the fiscal stance of the government is conducive to prudent economic and budgetary management, with reference to the eu stability and growth pact (sgp).