Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 6 July 2017

Public Accounts Committee

2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015

9:00 am

Mr. John McCarthy:

I will pick up on an earlier point about the fall in the ratio being solely to do with onshoring. One has to realise that the economy, as it grows, will increase the GDP, which is the denominator, and it will come down, not at the rate we saw in 2015 but it will come down. As we move from a situation of borrowing large amounts of money to not borrowing, it will help with the ratio falling as well. There is a dynamic there. The affordability of debt is ultimately how much the economy earns in a year and its capacity to repay.