David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am not a layperson, but I do worry about things and I ask the Minister for Finance for comfort when I am concerned about matters to do with finance. I asked a parliamentary question on 24 May 2016 and received a response from the former Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, which I am sure was compiled by civil servants. I dealt specifically with intangible assets and growth-fixed capital formation and the impact it has on GDP. The response I received from the Minister stated:

Aircraft investment, as presented in the annual national accounts, at current market prices by the CSO, is entirely GDP neutral, i.e. for every €1 increase in investments there is a corresponding increase in imports. The exclusion of aircraft investment would therefore have no impact on the debt to GDP ratio.

It goes on to say that the majority of intangible investment is imported. At that point the Department was saying that there was no difficulty with either aircraft leasing or intangible assets, but yet in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report I am looking at, which looks at the difference between GDP and GNI, the disturbing elements are the profits of redomiciled firms, depreciation, research and development, intellectual property and aircraft leasing.