An Economic Advisory Council, as recommended in an Oireachtas Committee report published today, is a "national requirement," Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said.
Mr Lenihan, who attended the publication of the report on Macroeconomic Policy and Effective Fiscal and Economic Governance, said he could not commit the Government to every recommendation in the report.
However, the Government would include a number of measures similar to the report's recommendations in its upcoming four year budget plan.
He cited the fact of the budget plan and the giving of information to Opposition parties of instances where the Government was already working on "approximate proposals" to those in the report. "We are committed to the broad principals whatever about the details."
The report, by the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service arises from the reports into the banking crisis by Central Bank governor Patrick Honohan and by Klaus Regling and Max Watson. It addresses the issue of macroeconomic policy in the euro in "normal times" and budget process change.
An Economic Advisory Council would report on budget policy and forecasting, producing an annual report four months prior to budget day.
A Budgetary Review Council would monitor, analyse and develop policy scenarios, including scenarios suggested by the Opposition. The committee would then consider the two councils' reports and help prepare for a full Dáil debate 30 days prior to budget day.
The committee has also recommended that new fiscal rules be adopted that would be devised by an all party Oireachtas committee that would conclude its work within six months.
The committee received support from economics professor Philip Lane. The report includes a paper by Prof Lane in which he says that counter-cyclical fiscal policies can contribute to macroeconomic stabilisation.
The Watson and Regling report on the banking crisis said the Government's pro-cyclical fiscal policies during the boom years formed part of the backdrop to the severe downturn.
