Sinn Féin spokesperson on Finance, Pearse Doherty TD, has said that today’s Fiscal Assessment Report published by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council shows that the Government’s Budget lacks credibility. 

The Donegal TD said:

“Today the Fiscal Advisory Council published their assessment of the Budget.

“Their assessment is unprecedented, finding that the Budget lacked credibility.

“The Council judged that the Government used fiscal gimmickry to flatter the numbers and, most worryingly, completely ignored this year’s health overruns.

“Their conclusions are similar to those made by the Secretary General of the Department of Health, who said that the Budget was not credible, “not honest” and a “clear breach of public financial procedures”.

“Their conclusions echo the warnings made by the CEO of the HSE that managing the health service within the Government’s Budget “cannot be achieved without significant and punitive risks to the public”.

 “Today’s assessment by the Council is further evidence that this Government has underfunded our health service, to the detriment of patients and staff.”