The budgetary watchdog said it completely stood over controversial comments about last year's budget and "fiscal gimmickry", saying there was substantial evidence to support their conclusions.
In correspondence with the Department of Finance, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) said they did not feel the need to change any of the messaging around their budget assessment and were surprised at some of the criticisms of their analysis.
In an email in December, IFAC chief economist Dr Eddie Casey wrote: "First, as you will have seen from our report, we did not feel the need to change any of the messaging around our assessment that "fiscal gimmickry" and a "lack of transparency" were a feature of the Budget and related documentation.
"We feel that these assessments are perfectly valid. We provide substantial evidence and reasoning in support of this conclusion," he added.
The correspondence came after IFAC had sent a copy of their fiscal assessment report to the Department of Finance and Department of Public Expenditure during the Budget 2024 process.
The Department of Public Expenditure said they disagreed with the use of the term "fiscal gimmickry" and wanted to "refute" any suggestion of a lack of transparency after they were asked to provide more detail on costs arising from the crisis in Ukraine, the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, and on healthcare.
In an email, Dr Eddie Casey said there were large amounts of spending in Budget 2024 that were being categorised as "temporary" even though they looked certain to last well into the future.
"Examples include Covid-related spending on health and supports for Ukrainians, which are classified as 'non-core' but look set to persist," he wrote.
"It is not clear to us why 'windfall capital investment' falls outside of both 'core' and 'non-core' spending. Why public transport fare reductions in 2024 should be classified as 'non-core Covid spending' is similarly unclear," he said.
"There are many examples highlighted in the report, and so I don't think there is a need to restate them here," he added.
Dr Casey also queried how Budget 2024 had approached the National Spending Rule, which Government appeared to think was an "anchor" rather than a "rule" and which is supposed to help avoid large increases in spending.
"The Department’s observations refer to the 5% 'rule' in quotation marks. They twice describe the rule as an 'anchor', rather than a rule," he wrote.
The IFAC chief economist said officials needed to make clear whether the National Spending Rule was still considered a "rule" and if there had been a change in the official government position on how it worked.
Dr Casey added that sticking to the "rule" would be key in the future for how Ireland managed the climate transition and an ageing population.
"The rule can also help ensure that the Government is able to support the economy through future downturns rather than raising taxes and cutting spending, as it did during the austerity period," he said in his email.
"In addition, the rule can help to provide a platform for realistic expenditure planning allowing departments to plan further ahead with greater certainty around resourcing. To ensure this, the rule needs to be reinforced and, most importantly, adhered to," he added.
Asked about the records, which were released under FOI, IFAC's acting chairperson Michael McMahon said that their fiscal assessment report had been sent to the two government departments as part of their normal processes.
"We do so in order to get comments and clarifications of a factual nature. Regarding any further comments we receive, we independently choose whether to incorporate them or not," he said.
"Our position regarding Budget 2024 was outlined in our December 2023 Fiscal Assessment Report, the associated press release, and our media engagements thereafter," he added.
Reporting by Ken Foxe
