Mr. Frank O'Connor:

It will not surprise the Deputy that I would say we would not speculate on any number. As head of funding and debt management, the market would pick up on any particular number as a new funding range or a new target. There are many moving parts in debt dynamics, including the very important interest cost. From our perspective, we take the Government numbers, be it at budget time or at the stability programme update in April, and guide the market accordingly.

In terms of the future, I note that the investors note that the Government has to face, just like other governments, a larger deficit this year and given the quantum of the deficit, it is unlikely to recover in the next year or so. They expect to watch the trajectory and the Government indicating that it will have a medium-term plan to get broadly back to budget balance.

This is what investors will watch. As soon as we have those numbers, we will guide the market.