Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 22 October 2020

Public Accounts Committee

2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 – Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Accounting for Capital Assets
Chapter 5 - Accounting for Allied Services

11:30 am

Mr. Robert Watt:

As a percentage of GDP for this year, we are in the middle of the pack. The way to look at that is that the Irish Government is doing more to help the economy and to support businesses and households than other countries. That is the way to interpret that deficit number. If one believes that we actually have a higher deficit, we have a higher deficit because the Irish Government is doing more for its citizens than other countries, which I think actually is the case. We think this is the right approach. We think it is right that we have this deficit this year and next year because of our unique circumstances that we are all facing. That is the correct thing to do. Of course, the big challenge, when we get beyond next year, is to get the deficit down in a sensible way and get the debt-GDP burden on a downward trajectory. That is the big challenge that we face.