Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

As the Minister knows, under the treaty we are obliged to reduce the deficit on the structural side to 0.5% of GDP, so under static conditions it must be reduced to approximately €900 million, a reduction of €5.7 billion. Of course, conditions will not be static and it will be a combination of growth and the fiscal adjustment. The key question is as follows. Over what timeframe will Ireland be expected to deliver on that reduction of the structural deficit from 3.7% in 2015 to 0.5%?

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