Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 November 2013
181. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the date on which he will produce the medium-term economic plan; the length of time the plan will span; and the person he is consulting in the drawing up of the plan. [50573/13]
View answerThe Government approved the drafting of a Medium Term Economic Strategy (MTES) on 11th June 2013 and consultation on this Strategy has been ongoing with Departments, Agencies, and Representative Bodies. The MTES is a whole-of-Government endeavour and the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform were given joint responsibility to prepare the strategy in close consultation with the Department of the Taoiseach and the Office of the Tánaiste, and working with all Departments. The strategy will set out the macroeconomic strategy and policy actions for achieving sustainable economic and employment growth for the period 2014-2020. Extensive consultation with a range of key stakeholders has already taken place. 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 Economic Social Research Institute (ESRI), the Irish Fiscal Advisory 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 is helping to inform the preparation of the MTES. On 18th October Officials from my Department also briefed members of the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) on the MTES preparations. In a document titled, Ireland’s Five-Part Crisis, Five Years On: Driving Reform and Institutional Innovation, NESC raised a number of issues in respect of the MTES regarding the policy-making framework, including how policy is developed, implemented and reviewed for effectiveness.
A further MTES consultative event was held on 25th November to capture the input of a more diverse group of entrepreneurs, specifically: female entrepreneurs, young entrepreneurs (mainly under 35 years of age) and ‘new Irish’ entrepreneurs. The views and ideas expressed at this event will also be taken into consideration in drafting the MTES.
In addition, following competitive tendering processes, we engaged the services of two consultancy firms.
1. The ESRI was engaged to advise and assist in the economic modelling of various policy scenarios;
2. PMCA Economic Consultants were engaged to provide assistance and analysis in the preparation of the Medium-Term Economic Strategy, including an analysis of recent medium-term economic strategies in countries comparable to Ireland, and to provide related advice on the effective development and implementation of the Strategy.
We are also receiving advice and assistance from PIVOT Dublin in the design of the final document. A publication date for the Strategy has not been decided by Government as yet, but it is intended to produce at least a clear outline of the strategy by mid-December.
