Mr. John McCarthy:

Even today. It gives counter-intuitive results in many instances. Let me give you an example, if I can. So, in theory, and for a large country like Germany or France, the change in the structural balance is tantamount to the fiscal effort. So, in other words, if the fiscal ... if the structural balance deteriorates by 1% of GDP, that's equivalent to a fiscal stimulus. So, in Ireland we consolidated since the crisis kicked in by 17% of GDP, whereas the change in a structural balance over that period is about 6%. So, it gives a completely misleading picture of the fiscal stance in Ireland, even today. There have been some minor improvements to the methodology but they are not game changers.

One of the inputs here is trying to measure the business cycle, so when a large country had a big problem estimating what's called the NAIRU, changes were agreed. We've been raising issues for years, almost ignored, except this year when we did raise an issue regarding the so-called expenditure benchmark. Now, can I just, I'm sorry for eating into your time, recognising the shortcomings of the structural balance, the so-called six pack - about two of the regulations refer to the Stability and Growth Pact the others are for the macro imbalances procedure - introduced the concept of an expenditure rule, the so-called expenditure benchmark, which is a little bit easier to measure because it smooths potential output over a ten-year horizon looking at just year-to-year changes. So it's a little bit better but it's not the be all and end all. It's ... this issue is still a problem for Ireland.