Minister Donohoe makes new appointments to the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council

The Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD, has appointed two new members to the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, Dr Adele Bergin and Mr Alessandro Giustiniani with effect from 1 January 2021.

Dr Bergin and Mr Giustiniani were appointed from a panel of shortlisted candidates set up following an open selection process through the Public Appointments Service held late last year. Both appointments are for a term of four years, with effect from 1 January 2021. The appointments of Dr Bergin and Mr Giustiniani to the Council fill both a pre-existing vacancy as well as a further vacancy that arose when outgoing Council member, Dr Martina Lawless’ term of office came to an end on 31 December 2020.

Minister Donohoe said:

“I welcome the two new appointments to the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, of Dr Adele Bergin and Mr Alessandro Giustiniani. I wish to congratulate both new members on their appointments to the Council and to wish them well in their important roles. I would also like to express my appreciation to the outgoing Member, Dr Martina Lawless for her contribution to the work of the Council since her appointment in 2016”.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Short Biography

Adele Bergin

Dr. Adele Bergin is an Associate Research Professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute, where she is a joint research area coordinator for macroeconomics. She is an adjunct Professor at the Department of Economics in Trinity College Dublin and a Research Fellow with the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn, Germany. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from NUI Maynooth, a Masters of Science (Economics and Econometrics) from the University of Bristol and a B.A. (Economics) from Trinity College Dublin. Dr. Bergin was a Council Member of the Irish Economic Association from 2014 to 2020 and is the Policy Section Editor for the Economic and Social Review.

Alessandro Giustiniani

Mr. Alessandro Giustiniani was most recently assigned as lead country desk economist at the International Monetary Fund (2016 to 2019) and was responsible for developing the macro-economic framework for Ireland. His experience prior to joining the staff of the IMF includes four years at the Executive Board of the IMF as advisor and senior advisor to Italy’s Executive Director at the IMF. Mr. Giustiniani also served as a division chief in the Research Department of the Bank of Italy where his work involved participating in several European Union and OECD working groups.

Selection process

The selection process for this appointment was undertaken in accordance with the “Guidelines for appointments to State Boards” published by the Government in November 2014. The vacancy was advertised on Stateboards.ie and managed by the Public Appointments Service.

Details on the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, including board members, are available at www.fiscalcouncil.ie