FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT 2012

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR No. 39/2012
• Year: 2012

• Full Act
• Act by Section
• Act As Enacted
• Amendments
• PDF annotated
• PDF unannotated

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Number 39 of 2012

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FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT 2012

REVISED

Updated to 16 December 2020

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This Revised Act is an administrative consolidation of Fiscal Responsibility Act 2012. It is prepared by the Law Reform Commission in accordance with its function under Law Reform Commission Act 1975 (3/1975) to keep the law under review and to undertake revision and consolidation of statute law.

All Acts up to and including Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 (25/2020), enacted 16 December 2020, and all statutory instruments up to and including European Union (Retail Charges for Regulated Intra-EU Communications) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 668 of 2020), made 18 December 2020, were considered in the preparation of this Revised Act.

Disclaimer: While every care has been taken in the preparation of this Revised Act, the Law Reform Commission can assume no responsibility for and give no guarantees, undertakings or warranties concerning the accuracy, completeness or up to date nature of the information provided and does not accept any liability whatsoever arising from any errors or omissions. Please notify any errors, omissions and comments by email to

revisedacts@lawreform.ie.

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Number 39 of 2012

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FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT 2012

REVISED

Updated to 16 December 2020

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Introduction

This Revised Act presents the text of the Act as it has been amended since enactment, and preserves the format in which it was passed.

Related legislation

Fiscal Responsibility Acts 2012 and 2013: this Act is one of a group of Acts included in this collective citation, to be construed together as one (Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 2013 (29/2013), s. 4(4)). The Acts in this group are:

• Fiscal Responsibility Act 2012 (39/2012)

• Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 2013 (29/2013), s. 3

Annotations

This Revised Act is annotated and includes textual and non-textual amendments, statutory instruments made pursuant to the Act and previous affecting provisions.

An explanation of how to read annotations is available at

www.lawreform.ie/annotations.

Material not updated in this revision

Where other legislation is amended by this Act, those amendments may have been superseded by other amendments in other legislation, or the amended legislation may have been repealed or revoked. This information is not represented in this revision but will be reflected in a revision of the amended legislation if one is available.

Where legislation or a fragment of legislation is referred to in annotations, changes to this legislation or fragment may not be reflected in this revision but will be reflected in a revision of the legislation referred to if one is available.

A list of legislative changes to any Act, and to statutory instruments from 1972, may be found linked from the page of the Act or statutory instrument at

www.irishstatutebook.ie.

Acts which affect or previously affected this revision

• Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 (25/2020)

• Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 2013 (29/2013)

All Acts up to and including Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 (25/2020), enacted 16 December 2020, were considered in the preparation of this revision.

Statutory instruments which affect or previously affected this revision

• Fiscal Responsibility Act 2012 (Commencement) Order 2012 (S.I. No. 522 of 2012)

All statutory instruments up to and including European Union (Retail Charges for Regulated Intra-EU Communications) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 668 of 2020), made 18 December 2020, were considered in the preparation of this revision.

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Number 39 of 2012

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FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT 2012

REVISED

Updated to 16 December 2020

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Acts Referred to

Companies Act 1990	1990, No. 33
Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act 1993	1993, No. 8
Comptroller and Auditor General Acts 1866 to 1998
Ethics in Public Office Act 1995	1995, No. 22
European Parliament Elections Act 1997	1997, No. 2
Freedom of Information Act 1997	1997, No. 13
Local Government Act 2001	2001, No. 37

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FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT 2012

REVISED

Updated to 16 December 2020

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Number 39 of 2012

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AN ACT TO MAKE PROVISION FOR SECURING THAT THE RULES IN ARTICLE 3 OF THE TREATY ON STABILITY, COORDINATION AND GOVERNANCE IN THE ECONOMIC AND MONETARY UNION TAKE EFFECT IN THE LAW OF THE STATE IN ACCORDANCE WITH PARAGRAPH 2 OF THAT ARTICLE AND THAT THE RULE IN ARTICLE 4 OF THAT TREATY TAKES EFFECT IN THE STATE; TO MAKE PROVISION IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE 3 OF THAT TREATY IN RELATION TO A MEDIUM-TERM BUDGETARY OBJECTIVE AND A CORRECTION MECHANISM; TO ESTABLISH A BODY TO BE KNOWN AS COMHAIRLE CHOMHAIRLEACH BHUISÉADACH NA hÉIREANN OR, IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, THE IRISH FISCAL ADVISORY COUNCIL AND PROVIDE FOR ITS FUNCTIONS; AND TO PROVIDE FOR RELATED MATTERS.

[27th November, 2012]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:

PART 1

Interpretation

1.

Interpretation.

1.— (1) In this Act—

“1997 excessive deficit Regulation” means Council Regulation (EC) No. 1467/97 of 7 July 1997 ¹ as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No. 1056/2005 of 27 June 2005 ² and Council Regulation (EU) No. 1177/2011 of 8 November 2011 ³;

“1997 surveillance and coordination Regulation” means Council Regulation (EC) No. 1466/97 of 7 July 1997 ⁴ as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No. 1055/2005 of 27 June 2005 ⁵ and Regulation (EU) No. 1175/2011 of 16 November 2011 ⁶;

“2009 Regulation” means Council Regulation (EC) No. 479/2009 of 25 May 2009 ⁷ as amended by Council Regulation (EU) No. 679/2010 of 26 July 2010 ⁸;

“2012 Treaty” means the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union done at Brussels on 2 March 2012;

“annual structural balance of the general government”, in relation to a year, means the general government deficit or general government surplus for the year, cyclically adjusted and net of one-off andtemporary measures, expressed as a percentage of gross domestic product at market prices;

“Budget”, in relation to a year, means the Financial Statement and associated material presented by the Minister to Dáil Éireann, and the Estimates for Public Services, which set out the Government’s proposals for the year with regard to the raising of tax and other revenues and to public expenditure;

“budgetary rule” shall be construed in accordance with section 3;

“cyclically-adjusted” means adjusted to take account of effects estimated to be due to the operation of the economic cycle;

“Estimates for Public Services” means the estimates of expenditure submitted by the Government to Dáil Éireann for approval in relation to supply grants and appropriations-in-aid in respect of supply services for a year;

“European system of accounts” means the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community as provided for under Council Regulation (EC) No. 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 ⁹, as it has effect as amended from time to time;

“exceptional circumstances” means—

(a) a period during which an unusual event outside the control of the State has a major impact on the financial position of the general government, or

(b) a period of severe economic downturn,

within the meaning of the Stability and Growth Pact;

“Fiscal Council” has the meaning given by section 7(1);

“fiscal stance” means the change in the annual structural balance of the general government, excluding interest payments on the general government debt expressed as a percentage of gross domestic product at market prices, for a year relative to the preceding year;

“general government”, in relation to the State, shall be construed in accordance with the European system of accounts;

“general government debt”, in relation to a year, means the total gross debt at nominal value of the general government of the State which is outstanding at the end of the year, as arrived at in accordance with the 2009 Regulation;

“general government deficit”, in relation to a year, means the net borrowing of the general government of the State for the year, as arrived at in accordance with the 2009 Regulation;

“general government surplus”, in relation to a year, means the net lending of the general government of the State for the year, as arrived at in accordance with the 2009 Regulation;

“gross domestic product at market prices”, in relation to a year, means gross domestic product of the State for the year at market prices, as arrived at in accordance with the European system of accounts;

“local authority” has the same meaning as in the Local Government Act 2001;

“medium-term budgetary objective” means the medium-term budgetary objective required by the 1997 surveillance and coordination Regulation;

“Minister” means Minister for Finance;

“official forecasts” means the macroeconomic and budgetary forecasts published by the Department of Finance for the purposes of fiscal planning and known as the Spring forecasts and the Autumn forecasts;

“Stability and Growth Pact” means the 1997 surveillance and coordination Regulation, the 1997 excessive deficit Regulation and the Resolution of the European Council of 17 June 1997 on the Stability and Growth Pact ¹⁰;

“stability programme” means the stability programme required by Article 3(1) of the 1997 surveillance and coordination Regulation;

“subsector”, in relation to the general government, shall be construed in accordance with the European system of accounts.

(2) A word or expression used in this Act and in the 2012 Treaty has, unless the contrary intention appears, the same meaning in this Act as in the 2012 Treaty.

¹ OJ No. L209, 2.8.1997, p.6

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