Economics

Ian Guider: Politicians don’t want budgetary watchdog ‘gloomsters’ spoiling the boom party

Irish Fiscal Advisory Council warnings on lavish tax cuts and spending increases are hard to reconcile with what’s actually happening on the ground

Michael McGrath and Paschal Donohoe: any potential budget splurge is limited by IFAC’s advice to the government to stick to its spending rules. Picture: Rollingnews

Is this the most hated economic boom ever? We have a record amount of people in work, wages are rising and taxes are flowing into the public coffers in sums that simply could never be imagined during the austerity era.

In the years ahead, the amount of money that is forecast to be available to the government to spend may reach ridiculous heights – surpluses that make the Celtic Tiger budget giveaways a quaint memory.