Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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146. To ask the Minister for Finance to report on his attendance at the National Economic Dialogue. [30627/23]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the eighth National Economic Dialogue took place on June 12th.

The overarching theme of the Dialogue was “The economy in 2030: enabling a sustainable future for all”. The Dialogue provides a forum for participants to engage in an open and inclusive exchange on the competing economic and social goals of the Government, with this year’s Dialogue focussing on the medium to long-term. As in previous years, the Dialogue was structured around plenary sessions, with smaller breakout sessions on specific themes. I chaired a break-out session on “Sustainable public finances & medium-term growth”.

The Dialogue was attended by representatives from community, voluntary and environmental groups, business, unions and the academic community. A number of members of the Select Committee on Budgetary Oversight also contributed to the event.

The Chair’s report and the reports of each of the seven rapporteurs for the breakout sessions are available on www.gov.ie/en/publication/53e74-national-economic-dialogue-2023/.

My opening remarks on the economic and fiscal context are also available at the above link.

The National Economic Dialogue is an invaluable part of our budgetary process. Decisions that have been made in previous budgets have been influenced by previous Dialogues and I have reflected on this year’s discussions during the drafting of Budget 2024.