Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste did not remotely answer the question. The State has spent more than €40 billion on interest repayments since the crisis of 2008-09, which Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil got us into. Even this year, we will spend €7 billion on interest payments, which is almost as much as the budget of the Department of Education and Skills. We cannot even discuss this issue because this money goes straight to the Central Fund.

I am well aware of the efforts being made by the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, to reduce risks to Ireland in refinancing the 2018-20 bonds. In its 2016 report, a copy of which I have before me, the NTMA refers to locking in low interest rates and longer maturities while interest rates remain at historically low levels. The agency has reduced the global figure from approximately €70 billion to approximately €46 billion and last year, it issued the country's first 100-year bond. It also has €21 billion in the kitty. Just a few weeks ago, Mr. Conor O'Kelly, the NTMA's chief executive officer, and Mr. Frank O'Connor, its director of funding, visited Leinster House to brief me extensively on this matter.

Professor Colm FitzGerald and others still fear the Government and NTMA are taking too much of an accounting rather than actuarial approach to the national debt. Asset prices have increased fuelled by quantitative easing and low interest rates, while fiscal shocks are likely when the money pump is switched off. No one can predict the impact of the unstable Trump Presidency. If Britain leaves the European Union in March 2019, the economy will be in some danger. We could be about to enter a perfect fiscal storm. Some economists believe there is a danger of a return of the troika. Will the Tánaiste ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Finance to meet representatives of the National Treasury Management Agency to encourage the agency to move fast to refinance our debt in the 2018-20 period? The Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Bruton, should note that this is a serious matter because the next Government will have to deal with it.

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