Mr. Derek Moran:

During the morning we talked extensively about the debt exposure. That is a real domestic threat. We are approaching the top of the current economic cycle and there will be a place on the way down on the other side where pressures will come on spending on employment, unemployment and all those sorts of things which will add to this debt. That is why last year we produced for the first time an annual debt report. We do think it is one of the more important things and we should not lose focus on it. If we go back to the very long conversations, we have had GDP as a benchmark. If we take debt as a proportion of GDP it all looks very healthy. That is because of distortions in the level of GDP.

However, the reality is - and the Deputy is absolutely right - the nominal level of debt is not changing. It is slightly ticking upwards. It is not going up alarmingly but it is going up. Mr. McCarthy ran three scenarios last year. I refer to a GDP shock and a slow down in the world economy, an interest rate shock and then a combination of the two. They show the debt to be sustainable on either of the first two but we really come under pressure if we get both an interest rate shock and a GDP shock. We would come under pressure and the debt ratio would start to go back up again.