Mr. John McCarthy:

The Minister asked me to comment on the convergence margin. The assessment is not done on the basis of our numbers, which show a structural deficit of -0.9, but on the basis of the Commission's numbers. Typically, the Commission would have a lower growth forecast, so potentially a lower output gap. I would not rule out the possibility that when we get the Commission's numbers, we may be closer to the MTO than the Department's numbers would suggest. We went through an iterative process with the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and came up with our figure of 5.6%. The Commission does not have to do that so it is conceivable that when we get the Commission's assessment of MTO achievement or not, the picture may be different.