Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The bank-related part is between one fifth and one quarter. The rest is the accumulated cost of running deficits. This is why, when Senator Horkan asked me about this point, I said the best way we can begin to get our debt soon is related to what we do in terms of our need to borrow every year. The level of debt in the economy is between €200 billion and €205 billion, which is a very high figure. The percentage of Government tax revenue absorbed to service that debt is high by comparison with the norm. It puts us among the countries that have a debt issue requiring management. That said, I am optimistic that we will be able to do it through what we will be able to do with surpluses in the future and through what I believe is the right thing to do with our shares in the banking system.

With regard to debt per capitain the country overall, there has been some confusion over these matters in that the level of private debt that is added on top of the public debt often includes the private debt associated with financial institutions based here in Ireland and the corporate debt of big companies located in Ireland. That is not the way debtper capita should be calculated for our country because we are so open and have such a high degree of foreign direct investment. It means that the debt per head for our country would be calculated as far higher than for a country with a low level of foreign direct investment, for example.