Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 October 2013
95. Deputy Peter Mathews asked the Minister for Finance the bodies or persons with whom his Department has had contact in relation to the formation of economic programme 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41775/13]
View answerI assume that the Deputy is referring to the preparation by the Government of a Medium Term Economic Strategy (MTES) for the period 2014 to 2020. The MTES is being developed jointly by the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure & Reform in conjunction with other relevant Departments and will establish the macroeconomic strategy and policy actions for achieving sustainable economic and employment growth for the seven years to 2020.
A key commitment in my Department's Statement of Strategy is to engage more with our stakeholders. In that context two consultation exercises in relation to the MTES were undertaken by the two Departments in September 2013 which focused on the challenges to be addressed to achieve economic growth and job creation. The first of these was a conference in Dublin Castle on 3rd September under the auspices of the Irish Government Economic Evaluation Service (IGEES) which inter alia supports Departments in evaluating policy and providing economic analysis. The IGEES event was attended by representatives of government Departments and agencies, regulators, the Central Bank of Ireland, the ESRI, the Irish Fiscal Council and academia.
In addition, a major consultative forum took place on Tuesday 24th September 2013, again in Dublin Castle, at which around 160 representatives of businesses and enterprises, relevant government Departments and agencies and bodies representative of business and industry participated. This forum facilitated the exchange of ideas between Government and business with a view to Ireland maximising economic growth and meeting its fiscal commitments to the year 2020 and will help to inform the preparation of the MTES. It is intended that a short paper on the outcome of the MTES Forum of 24th September will be presented by my Department to the Global Irish Network Economic Forum on 4-5 October. The Global Irish Network is a permanent network of influential Irish and Irish-connected individuals abroad that provides Ireland with a valuable resource of international expertise.
