Mr. John McCarthy:

The Department published a report last week which Deputy Doherty may have seen. If he has not, I encourage him to read it. It is called the Annual Report on Public Debt in Ireland. It is a Department publication rather than a political publication, written by me and my colleagues. In it, we argue that 45% is an appropriate target, given the distortions in GDP. The Fiscal Advisory Council has said that 45% is not low enough and I am aware that some others have said it is too low. The Department is caught in the middle. We think green is the new black and so forth. We think a target of 45% is the equivalent of 60% for other countries, given the distortions in respect of GDP.

We referred to one figure in the report, which refers to a metric of which the Deputy will be aware, namely GNI*, which the CSO will publish in July in the national accounts. On our best estimates, debt to GNI* will probably exceed 100% when the figure is published.

I do not buy into the idea that just because the debt to GDP ratio is now down to 75% the debt issue has been resolved. Public debt should remain a priority. If we are looking at it on a GDP basis, which we are required to do under our legal obligations, the Department has said in the publication that 45% is the prudent target.