About the Council

The Council

Seamus Coffey is a lecturer in the Department of Economics in University College Cork. His research and writing focuses on the performance of the Irish economy and the public finances. Seamus was a member of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council from 2016 and was Chair of the Council from January 2017 until December 2019. In October 2016, Seamus was appointed the independent expert by the Minister for Finance to undertake a review of Ireland’s Corporation Tax code. He served on the Commission on Pensions which published its report in October 2021. He is also a member of The National Economic and Social Council, the external advisory board to the Irish Governmental Economic Evaluation Service, and is the current president of the Irish Economic Association. Seamus is a sometime contributor to print, broadcast and online media relating to the Irish economy including fiscal outcomes, corporation tax, household debt, national accounts and other economic issues. Mr. Coffey’s term of office as a member of the Council began on 22 August 2024 and runs for an initial four-year term, with the possibility of reappointment for up to two further four-year terms. His appointment as Chair began on 23 August 2024.

Prof Michael McMahon is a Macroeconomist and is currently a Professor of Macroeconomics at the University of Oxford and Senior Research Fellow of St Hugh’s College. He is a research fellow of the Centre Economic Policy Research (CEPR), Deputy Director of the Nuffield Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Policy (NUCAMP) and Director for Impact at CAGE, Warwick. He previously worked at the Bank of England where for three years he was a euro-area economist doing both analytical and forecasting work. During this time, he served as one of the UK’s two representatives on the European Commission’s Experts Group on Economic Forecasting. He has also worked for the IMF’s Institute for Capacity Development in Singapore. His initial term of appointment to the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council was 4 years effective 18 April 2019. He was reappointed for a second 4 year term effective 18 April 2023. In December 2020, the Council appointed Michael as Vice-Chairperson to the Fiscal Council. In July 2023, the Minister for Finance appointed Michael as Acting Chairperson to the Fiscal Council. He remained in this role until August 2024.

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. Her initial term of appointment to the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council was 4 years effective 1 January 2021. She was reappointed for a second 4 year term effective 1 January 2025.

Mr Alessandro Giustiniani, an Italian national, is a former staff member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) where he was most recently the lead country desk economist for Ireland responsible for developing the macroeconomic framework and the analysis of the sustainability of public debt. Previously, he was a senior staff member in the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department and the in the Western Hemisphere Department. Prior to joining the IMF staff, he served as Senior Advisor to Italy’s Executive Director at the IMF’s Executive Board and as a Division Chief in the Research Department of the Bank of Italy. Mr. Giustiniani has published widely on issues relating to exchange rates, international macroeconomics, and banking. He is a graduate of the University of Rome, “La Sapienza” and of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies of Geneva. His initial term of appointment to the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council was 4 years effective 1 January 2021. He was reappointed for a second 4 year term effective 1 January 2025.

Prof. Stephen Millard is the Deputy Director of Macroeconomic Modelling and Forecasting at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research in the United Kingdom. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Durham University Business School since 2011 and at the University of Portsmouth since October 2021. Stephen previously worked at the Bank of England. His research interests include inflation dynamics, the labour market, monetary and macroprudential policy. Stephen has a PhD from Northwestern University, where he studied with the late Nobel Laureate Dale Mortensen. His initial appointment commenced on 17 June 2024. He was reappointed for a 4 year term effective 1 January 2025.

Former Members