Scapegoat time!

Yay.

It said the repeated errors had been made by a “small team of about four economists” within the department, and said it “failed to predict the sharp economic downturn”.

Also:

“The 2012 exchequer deficit was consistently overestimated by the Department of Finance,” it said…the projection on Budget Day in December still overestimated the deficit by €0.8bn.

Anyone name names?

Bodger’s checking with Doheny and Nesbitt’s.