Results 9,621-9,640 of 26,610 for speaker:David Cullinane

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: I will come to Mr. Derek Moran first. Can we have short and sharp answers from him, if he can, because we are working to a clock today? If I can start with the GNI*, gross national income (Star), Mr. Moran said it gives a more accurate picture of the market value of goods and services in this State and is more reliable than GDP, gross domestic product? Is that correct?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: Is it more reliable than GDP?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: Does that mean then that GDP has proved to be an unreliable measurement in this State?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: We are focused on this State.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: Mr. Derek Moran said GDP is still used for the purposes of reporting to international bodies. Is it correct then that GNI* would not be the measurement that would be used but GDP instead?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: However, it is more than that. Is GDP not what is used to calculate the fiscal rules? For example, I assume the debt-to-GDP ratio, which Mr. John McCarthy went through, still uses GDP and not GNI*.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: Are we then essentially calculating the implementation of rules based on unreliable measurements? Will Mr. John McCarthy answer that question?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: Mr. Derek Moran told us we were not unusual. He said this was a phenomenon not unusual for Ireland. Is Mr. John McCarthy now saying it is unique?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: The extent of it is more unique.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: That is a bit different from what Mr. Derek Moran said earlier.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: We can differ on that. Whatever about that, the extent of it is certainly more unique to Ireland. Is it the case then that we have to calculate the implementation of the fiscal rules based on a measurement which is less reliable in this State than it is in other states?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: That is not the point.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: With respect, that is not the question I asked. If the question I asked could be answered. I did not ask about the consequences. Are we calculating the fiscal rules on measurements which are less reliable in this State than they are in other states? I am not interested in the consequences. We have to work within the fiscal rules and calculate how they work in this State. We were...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: Please do not deal with the consequences. Will Mr. John McCarthy deal with the question I put?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: We can have GNI* figures, put them into brochures and documents and put them up in bright lights but in reality it does not make a bit of difference to how the fiscal rules are implemented because they are based on the GDP figures. That is correct. On the debt-to-GDP rules, Mr. John McCarthy earlier said the rules are silent on how long it would take to get to the correction of the 60% of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: Do we expect to exceed it this year?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: For example if the State decided, is it possible we could only reduce it by one-twentieth? Would that free up extra revenue for the State?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: Is Mr. John McCarthy telling me that, by sticking within the one-twentieth rule but not overstating it, there is no wriggle room in slowing down the pace of repaying debt because of the other more binding rules?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: Is Mr. John McCarthy certain of that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015 (6 Jul 2017)

David Cullinane: Staying on this issue and how the sale of AIB shares can be used and not used, the briefing document to the committee dealing with AIB receipts for capital spending stated that because it is classified as a financial transaction, it is the substitution of one form of an asset for another. It is correct then that shares to cash are seen as equal. Would shares to capital be seen as like for...