Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Therefore, a deficit figure of 5.1% would give a general government deficit cash balance of about €8.7 billion. In April the SPU forecast that the general government deficit would be about €7.5 billion, but that was to be expressed as a percentage of a greater nominal GDP balance and would have given a deficit of 4.3% of GDP. Mr. McCarthy is prepared to give us as much information as possible on the macro-economic forecasts, but he will not tell us anything at all about what it means for the budget and the fiscal position.