{
  "title": "Ireland: Selected Issues",
  "publication": "IMF Staff Country Reports, December 15, 2023",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/cr/issues/2023/12/14/ireland-selected-issues-542473",
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  "summary": "This Selected Issues paper provides an international perspective to the authorities’ two recent policy measures: setting up new savings and counter cyclical and climate infrastructure funds and reforming the judicial review of planning decisions in Ireland.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Overview",
      "content": "- The Selected Issues paper provides an international perspective on two recent Irish policy measures:\n  - Setting up new savings and counter cyclical and climate infrastructure funds.\n  - Reforming the judicial review of planning decisions in Ireland.\n- The paper is structured as two essays: the first on sovereign wealth fund design and operation; the second on planning and permitting system weaknesses and proposed legislative reforms."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Sovereign Wealth / Savings and Countercyclical and Climate Infrastructure Funds",
      "content": "- Findings:\n  - Presents international best practices in the design and operation of sovereign wealth funds relevant for Ireland’s two new funds.\n  - Highlights the importance of operating the funds within a strong fiscal policy framework.\n- Policy implications and recommendations:\n  - Design and operate the funds consistent with international best practices to ensure fiscal and macroeconomic stability.\n  - Anchor fund operations in a clear fiscal policy framework to guide saving, investment, and withdrawal rules."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Planning, Permitting, and Judicial Review",
      "content": "- Findings:\n  - Reviews Ireland’s planning and permitting system and identifies key elements that have hindered public investment.\n  - Analyzes the government’s proposed Bill to reform the planning system and contrasts its key features with those of other international jurisdictions.\n  - Identifies several contributors to inefficiencies in planning and judicial review:\n    - Loose standing requirements.\n    - Lack of mandatory timelines related to judicial review.\n    - Institutional governance issues within the planning board.\n  - Notes that the newly proposed reforms and legislative measures seek to address these issues.\n- Policy implications and recommendations:\n  - Tighten standing requirements to reduce frivolous or dilatory legal challenges that impede public investment timelines.\n  - Introduce mandatory timelines for judicial review processes to reduce uncertainty and delays in project implementation.\n  - Strengthen institutional governance of the planning board to improve decisionmaking and implementation capacity.\n  - Ensure that proposed legislative changes are benchmarked against international practices to balance access to justice with efficient permitting and investment delivery."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Key Takeaways",
      "content": "- Two complementary reform areas addressed:\n  - Fiscal and institutional design for new national funds (savings; counter cyclical and climate infrastructure).\n  - Legal, procedural, and governance reforms to accelerate planning and public investment.\n- Core message: aligning fund governance with fiscal policy and modernizing planning and judicial review procedures are central to improving Ireland’s public investment outcomes.\n\nInternational Monetary Fund. Ireland: Selected Issues.\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- Ireland: Selected Issues; IMF Country Report No. 23/412; November 22, 2023\n  - Ireland: Selected Issues; IMF Country Report No. 23/412; November 22, 2023 (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - Ireland: Selected Issues; IMF Country Report No. 23/412; November 22, 2023 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}"
    }
  ],
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    "[Markdown version](/en/publications/cr/issues/2023/12/14/ireland-selected-issues-542473/index.md)",
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    "Published: December 15, 2023",
    "Series: IMF Staff Country Reports",
    "DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400261428.002",
    "The Selected Issues paper provides an international perspective on two recent Irish policy measures:",
    "The paper is structured as two essays: the first on sovereign wealth fund design and operation; the second on planning and permitting system weaknesses and proposed legislative reforms.",
    "Findings:",
    "Policy implications and recommendations:",
    "Findings:",
    "Policy implications and recommendations:",
    "Two complementary reform areas addressed:",
    "Core message: aligning fund governance with fiscal policy and modernizing planning and judicial review procedures are central to improving Ireland’s public investment outcomes.",
    "**Ireland: Selected Issues; IMF Country Report No. 23/412; November 22, 2023**"
  ],
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      "title": "Ireland: Selected Issues; IMF Country Report No. 23/412; November 22, 2023",
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