Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming along today and answering our questions. My first question relates to comments made by the Minister for Finance at a recent ESRI event. He said that to keep the interest bill on the national debt down, Ireland's deficit will need to be reduced. That assumes that our borrowing rate is a function of our country's debt and deficit. In 2010, we ran a deficit of approximately €18 billion and, last year, we ran a deficit of €19 billion. In September 2010, prior to entering the bailout and before Mr. Mario Draghi made his "whatever it takes" speech, we issued a bond at 6.3% whereas, in recent times, we have issued bonds at negative rates. Many observers say that rather than being a function of our debt and deficit, our borrowing rate is largely a function of what the ECB is willing to backstop in the secondary market. Does the ESRI share the view that interest rates are a function of debt and deficits or does it see the actions of the ECB as a more determining factor?