Mr. Tony Murphy:

There is a figure included in the accounts of the EU for the liability due from the UK and we would review that every year. Generally, the payments so far have been made completely in line with the negotiations at the start. There is a complete schedule of payments but the UK always has the option to pay off early, if it wants. If it wants to just clear the decks, it can do that as well. There are some revisions every year, depending on certain things, as Deputy Ó Murchú alluded to earlier. If there are decommitments, for instance, that obviously reduces the bill for the UK's share of those. It was based on the reste à liquider, another technical term, which is basically the commitments that have still to be spent. The UK share was based on those at a particular point in time. If they are not spent or if they do not subsequently materialise, obviously they have to be credited back. There are also annual adjustments in terms of pension liability and things like that. There is a little bit of movement, although not much, but the payment has basically gone down from €47.5 billion to €41.8 billion, and that is the figure at the end of 2021. So far, there is no issue in terms of the UK meeting its liability commitments, but it is over quite a long period and it will be there for quite some time.