FISCAL DISCIPLINE: The Chairman of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and the Governnor of the Central Bank are not paid to be optimists. In the run up to Budget 2024 they have been earning their pay by warning about prospective (and past) government spending plans. The economy is flat out and any fiscal expansion can only result in inflation. And despite the fact that the economy is running hot, and tax revenues are bouyant, there is a deficit in the government accounts when volatile and temporary Corporation Tax Receipts are exlcuded.