Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their contributions. I remind Deputy Doherty that I acknowledged the statistical correction by the CSO on GDP figures at least twice when I spoke on the budget on Tuesday. I spoke about the contribution that correction made to reducing our debt to GDP ratio. The Deputy is exaggerating when he attributes the correction to criminal activities in the economy. The bulk of the correction is due to including research and development in the figures and taking that back to approximately 1992. The correction was just above €10 billion and over €7.5 billion of that came from research and development. The illegal quantum that was included amounted to approximately €1 billion and did not include fuel smuggling or any of those activities certain people in this jurisdiction would be familiar with.

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