Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The annual finance accounts present the receipts into and issues from the Central Fund of the Exchequer, together with a set of statements and schedules that itemise the transactions. The financial statements on the national debt which are prepared by the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, are presented in full as Part 2 of the finance accounts.

Chapter 1 of my report on the accounts of public services is a recurring chapter, designed to summarise the transactions under the Central Fund in an accessible format and highlight relevant trends over time. In addition, because the finance accounts do not include any kind of balance sheet, the summary position on key assets and liabilities at year-end is also set out. Exchequer receipts in 2016 totalled €55.1 billion, which represented a decrease of €3.5 billion, or 6%, compared to 2015. Issues from the Central Fund in 2016 amounted to €56.1 billion, a year-on-year decrease of €2.6 billion, or 4%. The deficit in receipts relative to issues for the year was just over €1 billion. The chapter provides an overview of the public funding provided for Irish Water from all sources up to the end of 2016, which totalled €2.53 billion. This included a capital contribution of €184 million provided from the Central Fund for Irish Water in 2016. In addition, a €96 million working capital loan to Irish Water provided from the Central Fund in 2015 was converted into a capital contribution in 2016. The chapter also refers briefly to the European Commission's state aid ruling on the Apple Group. The Accounting Officer will be able to update the committee on developments in that regard.

Chapter 2 of my report outlines the trends and composition of Government debt and the cost of debt servicing. At the end of 2016, the general Government debt stood at just under €201 billion. This was marginally lower than at the end of 2015. While the ratio of general Government debt to gross domestic product continued to fall in 2016, international comparisons indicate that Ireland still has a relatively high debt burden. The cost to the Exchequer of servicing the national debt fell from €7.1 billion in 2015 to €6.8 billion in 2016, reflecting the impact of the refinancing of debt by the National Treasury Management Agency. The cost of servicing the national debt relative to the debt level dropped from an estimated 3.5% at the end of 2015 to 3.2% at the end of 2016.

The 2016 appropriation account for the Vote for the Office of the Minister for Finance records gross expenditure of €31.2 million. This was a net underspend of €10.63 million relative to the Estimate. The appropriation account presents expenditure under three expenditure programmes. They relate to the costs incurred in 2016 in respect of economic and fiscal policy, on which the Department spent €15.8 million; banking and financial services policy, on which the Department spent €6.8 million; and the provision of shared services, on which the Department spent €8.6 million. The expenditure on banking and financial services policy recorded in the appropriation account does not include costs associated with staff seconded to the Department from the NTMA to deal with banking sector issues and certain related consultancy costs. These costs are borne by the NTMA and not recouped from the Department.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act 2012 requires me to report to Dáil Éireann on the correctness of the sums brought to account by the Fiscal Advisory Council each year. Chapter 24 is my report for 2016. I gave a clear audit opinion on the council's financial statements for 2016 when it incurred expenditure of €633,000.