Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 23 March 2022

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Pre-Stability Programme Update Scrutiny (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland

Dr. Mark Cassidy:

Yes. It is a good example of what we were getting at previously, which is some sectors being affected. Undoubtedly, Ireland has a large part of that leasing business, with around 60% of the world's leased aircraft being managed from Ireland. I believe that 18 of the world's top 20 companies are managed from Ireland. This is having an effect. I do not have to hand the value of the transactions that might be affected. As to how it affect the Irish economy, individual leasing firms clearly will be affected. Some will be affected more as some are more exposed than others. The Chairman has made a very useful distinction in the question. The national accounts will be affected to an extent. The national accounts are very volatile in Ireland. One reason is that aircraft leasing developments can affect investment and import developments but in fact they do so in a way that has no relevance for the actual Irish economy. This is why we make these distinctions and why, for example, we say that GDP is not particularly relevant. The relevance with these figures is that they can cause distortions to the statistics but they would not cause any increase or effect on incomes and employment within the Irish economy.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.