Mr. John McCarthy:

Deputy Murphy asked whether there were any obligations in the document. The only legal obligations within the MTES are set out in the fiscal chapter, where we identify the various numerical fiscal rules we will be subjected to, both externally via the Stability and Growth Pact and domestically via the fiscal compact, the subset of the fiscal stability treaty that relates to numerical fiscal rules. Essentially, we set out how we will comply with those, namely, to correct the excessive deficit as part of the corrective arm of the Stability and Growth Pact in a timely manner, that is, by next year. In determining what is required after that, we move into the preventive arm of the pact, which requires our need to make rapid progress towards a balanced budget in structural terms, in other words, when one accounts for the impact of the economic cycle. Those are the rules on the deficit side. There is also a rule on the debt side.