Professor John McHale:

It is at official level. I should say that early on in the council we had one meet and greet dinner with the Minister for Finance but we did not discuss policy; he just wanted to say "Thank you". There has been no other contacts with the Minister.

Regarding the Deputy's second question on what happens post-2015 into 2016, I previously indicated that the need for further adjustment measures should be over if the growth projections come to pass after 2015. The good news is that even when we do not do anything in terms of additional measures, nominal GDP growth will bring about improvement in the structural balance. The reason the requirements under the adjustment path condition, which as the Deputy said is to improve the underlying structural deficit by 0.5% per year, can be met without additional measures is because of the assumption of nominal GDP growth. It is a case of working through the tax system. If we do not make any changes to the tax system in terms of the tax bands, just having nominal GDP growth and also having more people working and earning incomes will generate more tax revenues and-----