Mr. Stephen McDonagh:

I am not sure we said that but to address the question of whether they are on or off balance sheet, and to go back to what I said earlier, speaking in terms of the fiscal numbers, the general Government debt would be largely unchanged. It would be €100 million lower, in the context of €200 billion. As I outlined for Deputy Ó Broin, the expenditure will be €300 million or €400 million lower per year. The impact on the balance sheet, because there is some revenue included, is a little lower. Theoretically, for 2019, the general Government balance would be €250 million to €300 million better if the approved housing bodies, AHBs, were off balance sheet and not hitting it, so to speak. Simply put, the fiscal projections are compiled based on the system of classification. It encompasses all on balance sheet bodies. If they are on balance sheet they are counted and if they are not, they are not so to a certain extent the fiscal numbers are largely agnostic. There is the sense that a significant amount of public expenditure is being devoted to capital investment for the delivery of social housing. Effectively, that is public money under public control to deliver public policy so it should be on the balance sheet and not delivered via some off-balance sheet mechanism potentially creating a contingent liability for the State at some point in the future.