Mr. Seamus Coffey:

The two should work in tandem. There was a breach of the structural balance improvement in 2016. If there had not been the AIB transaction, there would have been a breach of a similar magnitude in the expenditure benchmark. The two should be consistent. There should not be the situation that arose in 2016 for Ireland where one is in breach and one is compliant. If the AIB transaction is stripped out, the breach of the expenditure benchmark then would be comparable to the breach in the structural balance. The problem is that the AIB was a once-off transaction and there was a mandate to remove it.

In 2017, based on the current figures, it looks like there will be a similar breach of the expenditure benchmark and the structural balance. Both have approximately 0.2% of gross domestic product, GDP, which is approximately €500 million to €600 million. One might say that in overall terms that is quite small, but if it is built up with a breach in 2016 and one in 2017, while the current plan suggests there will be compliance with fiscal rules from 2018, experience to date suggests that might not happen.