Budget Perspectives - ESRI/FFS- 2010

The 2010 Budget represents a futher step in the process of getting Irish 

fiscal policy back onto a sustainable path. This process started with the 

2009 Budget published in October 2008, and continued, inter alia, with the 

Supplementary Budget in April this year.

Over recent months, the global economy has begun to show some signs of recovery and there is growing 

evidence that the worst may be over in terms of the domestic downturn. 

The preparation of this year’s budget has to take into account the 

downward trend in tax revenue during 2009, the potential for public 

expenditure changes that can yield savings in the shortrun, and the signal 

created by the Budget itself to international markets where Ireland is 

borrowing to fund the shortfall in revenue given current expenditure 

commitments.

The Budgetary preparation can also be informed by the 

recently published report of the Commission on Taxation, the report of the 

Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes (also 

referred to as An Bord Snip Nua or the McCarthy Report). In addition, ESRI 

researchers have responded to the crisis by producing several research 

papers during 2009 of particular relevance to budgetary policy.

This year’s Budget Perspectives Conference, co-hosted by The Economic and Social 

Research Institute and the Foundation for Fiscal Studies, provides several 

inputs to inform macroeconomic decision making in these challenging 

times