It is slightly different, but there are many parallels and points that we could learn from, especially given that Ireland is a small country and, like us, does not want to waste resources.
The Government does the forecasting, but I think that the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has gradually changed its position and is doing a little bit more. Rather than it being a black-and-white situation, the Irish seem to have seen it as a gradation, which we can perhaps learn from.
IFAC has to endorse the forecasts. At first, there was confusion as to whether it was endorsing the whole budget or just the forecasts. I suspect that we might need to consider that issue as well. It seemed to be difficult for it not to endorse the budget, but it can make various comments and caveats along the way.
We spent a fair bit of time talking to people about the independence of the council. That is partly about what is in the legislation and the rules, but it is also partly about the reputation that is built up. We have noticed that in Scotland. We did not pick up from anyone any questions about independence.
There are five people on the council, and they all have Irish backgrounds, but not all of them are based in Ireland. We think that that is useful, because it gives the perspective of being outside the country and looking at the issues more internationally. Because Ireland is a small country and the Irish feel that the number of people who could be appointed to the council is limited, they are allowed two terms of office, which is positive.
The act that established the council does not give it a statutory right to information. The council has been challenged about that through a peer review and it is unusual in Europe. That point is being considered.
The final point that the members of the council made concerned how much time they have to spend on governance. Because the council is a statutory body, it has to consider its human resources policy and audits, for instance. Even though the council is small, that is almost as time consuming as it is for a large organisation. The council had not expected that and we wonder whether the members of our Scottish Fiscal Commission realise that they might have to spend quite a lot of time on that as well.