The Fiscal Advisory Council has criticised the Government for the absence of a specific plan for the public finances beyond next year.
In its latest assessment, the FAC acknowledged that the Government will likely achieve the desired deficit reduction to below 3% of GDP in 2015.
The council had urged the Government to push ahead with a planned €2bn adjustment to the public finances in October's Budget.
The Government decided to dismiss that advice, opting instead to go for a broadly neutral Budget that included no net tax increases and no large spending adjustments.
In today's report, the council pointed out that the economic recovery appears to be taking hold and risks to the State's balance sheet have subsided considerably, with an improved outlook for the National Asset Management Agency and the banks.
However, the council believes the Budget was a missed opportunity to move the public finances into what it called a "zone of safety" by following through on previous plans.
The council pointed out that the deficit could have been a full percentage point lower in 2015 and the country's debt could also have been significantly reduced.
Pointedly, it said the Budget was marked by the lack of a plan for the public finances beyond next year.
It believes the Government's spending plans do not address how anticipated spending pressures will be accommodated in the coming years.
The council’s chairperson has said the Government missed an opportunity with the Budget to move public finances into a zone of safety.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Professor John McHale said it was not the case that by easing up on austerity you remove burdens.
He said this was really just pushing them out over time.
Prof McHale said Ireland was still spending well in excess of its revenues and additional borrowing did not mean that burdens were avoided but essentially those burdens are being deferred.
Commenting on the impact of the next general election on budgetary policy, Mr McHale said it was necessary to remember that politics and political pressures led to serious mistakes in fiscal policy mistakes in the past, which ended up doing huge damage to living standards.
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin said the Government has to have regard not only for deficit targets but also to the impact on growth and social cohesion.
Asked about the FAC, Mr Howlin said people had to be able to thrive and have the purpose of improving living standards.
He said the biggest threat to Ireland's growth was lack of progress in the eurozone but that was beyond its control.
