Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. As part of the European fiscal architecture, the Stability and Growth Pact is expressed in terms of GDP. That is not our preferred measure for Ireland for the reasons we have put on record on many occasions. That is why we now publish the GNI* measure regularly and why we express the national debt as a percentage of GNI*. This gives us a figure of 86%. I should put on record that debt servicing costs are a key ingredient in overall debt sustainability. Debt servicing costs last year were less than €4 billion. The average maturity of our debt is about ten to 11 years and the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, has done an excellent job in recent years in removing those refinancing chimneys. While interest rates are now increasing for governments, including us, we are satisfied we are in a good funding position overall.

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