The Fiscal Advisory Council has criticised the Government's Budget for 2016.

It's latest assessment report says the decision to loosen the fiscal stance was a deviation from prudent economic and budgetary management.

And it says using better than expected tax revenues to fund permanent increases in expenditure has worrying echoes of the past.

The Council says the Irish economy is experiencing strong recovery - but the pace of future growth remains uncertain and our high levels of debt mean we have limited room for manoeuvre.

It's criticised Budget 2016 - which increased Government spending to 1.5 billion euro - saying the increase absorbs this year's better than expected tax revenues and delays the point at which the budget is balanced.

It says using unexpected revenue to fund permanent increases in expenditure has worrying echoes of past mistakes.

And it warns that we are significantly at risk of breaking budgetary rukles as there is no margin for overruns - despite the sustained pattern of overruns in health.