Mr. Stephen Mulvany:

It is not as clear and there are specific reasons acknowledged by the likes of the OECD and our own CSO such as the fact we tend to report the €3.5 billion to €4 billion in social care spending in respect of disability and the elderly and there is a lack of certainty as to whether all other countries that are counted in those figures report that in the same way. There are other issues like that. I am not saying it means the figures are wrong. I am just saying, as I think Professor Wren in the ESRI has said, one should be careful about making policy decisions based on which particular ranking we have in the OECD GDP figures or purchasing price parity figures.