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:
No, because one has the other rule. The debt relates to the stock but the more important and binding rule is the balanced budget rule and the need to achieve the MTO, medium-term budgetary objectives, and to correct it at a sufficient pace which is 0.5% of GDP per annum. Both rules are binding. While we may overcorrect or reduce the debt ratio faster, we are still obliged to correct the structural balance.