Professor John McHale:

There is a very important difference between interest expenditure and health and social protection expenditure in that the latter two are decision variables for the Government while the interest on the national debt is a contractual commitment and is not open for decision at budget time. This is particularly so in the case of debts to official lenders, including the European Stability Mechanism and the IMF. Such arrangements can potentially be renegotiated, but we would not really see it as part of the mandate of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council to advise on the negotiating stance the Government might adopt with those bodies.