Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 107: To ask the Minister for Finance the extent to which the national debt has been reduced during the past seven years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7418/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Between 31 December 1997 and 31 December 2004, the national debt fell from €38,966 million to €37,846 million, a reduction of €1,120 million in cash terms. I would suggest that the generally-accepted measure of the debt burden on an economy is the percentage of gross national product, GNP, to which the debt equates. Between 1997 and 2004, the debt-to-GNP ratio has fallen from 66.1% to 31.1%, a 35 percentage points reduction.