OECD Economic Surveys : Ireland - Volume 2003 Issue 9.

Table of contents
 Basic statistics of Ireland
 Assessment and recommendations
 I. Adjusting to slower growth and ensuring prosperity
 The nature of the growth slowdown
 Figure 1. Growth in GDP and GNP: the widening gap
 Figure 2. Irish labour force growth
 Figure 3. Immigration
 Figure 4. Indicators of inflation
 Box 1. The new partnership agreement
 Future prospects
 Short-term outlook
 Figure 5. Exchange rate and unit labour costs
 Table 1. Short-term outlook
 Longer-term prospects
 Figure 6. Decomposition of growth in labour supply
 Policy challenges
 The challenge for public finances. Ensuring prosperityEnhancing welfare
 II. Consolidating the public finances
 Gradual adjustment of public finances to slower growth
 Figure 7. Evolution of Irish public finance
 Box 2. Special savings incentive scheme
 Box 3. Summary of measures contained in Budget 2003
 Box 4. Benchmarking public sector pay
 Medium-term fiscal position
 Table 2. Comparison of deficits and debt ratios in the EU
 Table 3. General government balance and prospective debt ratio
 The impact of ageing on the public finances
 Table 4. Long-term demographic projections for Ireland. Table 5. Long-term sustainability of public financesControl of the public finances and priorities
 III. Enhancing the effectiveness of public expenditure management
 Figure 8. General government spending
 Trends in public expenditure and forces shaping them
 Expenditure trends and international comparisons
 Table 6. General government spending by economic category
 Table 7. Major current government outlays
 Figure 9. Trends in general government spending
 Table 8. Public sector employment and pay
 Medium and longer term spending challenges
 Strengthening the budgetary process and control. Controlling aggregate spendingFigure 10. Overshooting in current revenue and expenditure
 Aligning policy priorities and budget allocation
 Box 5. The budget process in Ireland
 Reforming management practices in the public service
 Improving the cost effectiveness of public spending
 Reforming human resource management
 Box 6. The new partnership agreement related to human resource management in the civil service
 Introducing competition and market signals in publicly funded services
 Box 7. Mechanisms to introduce competitive pressures on providers of publicly funded services. Improving the effectiveness of spending by sub-national governmentBox 8. Local authority funding
 Figure 11. Composition of subnational government financial resources
 Figure 12. Local authorities\' current revenue by source
 Challenges of improving spending outcomes in healthcare and infrastructure
 Controlling spending and improving efficiency in healthcare
 Figure 13. Trends in health care expenditure
 Table 9. Selected health care outcomes, resources and utilisation
 Box 9. Private practice in public hospitals
 Managing public infrastructure investment.