Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 106: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will report on discussions between National Treasury Management Agency, departmental or Government officials with Eurostat and with any international rating agencies with respect to the statistical treatment of debt incurred by the National Asset Management Agency, particularly in relation to the treatment of this debt in the national accounts and as part of the national debt; if this NAMA debt will be excluded from the calculation of general Government debt; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37691/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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On 16 October Eurostat (the Statistical Authority of the European Commission) informed the Central Statistics Office of its preliminary decision that the operations of the National Asset Management Agency should be recorded outside the general government sector in the Irish national accounts. On 20 October, Eurostat published its preliminary decision on its website.

The effect of this preliminary decision is that the acquisition of the assets from the financial institutions by NAMA will have no effect on our General Government Debt ratio or our general budget balance.

This treatment puts the Irish asset protection scheme on an equivalent footing with bank support schemes in other member states, which are also being recorded off-balance sheet. The main advantage of this is that it minimises the danger of the markets or international investors misinterpreting our headline debt or budget balance ratios when comparing us against other EU Member States.

As I have repeatedly said, the statistical treatment does not change the fact that operations of NAMA will lead to an increase in the amount of the State's potential liabilities. This basic fact should not be overlooked. However, neither should it be overlooked that these liabilities will be matched by a countervailing asset holding.

Officials from the Central Statistics Office, the interim National Asset Management Agency and my Department had been in regular contact with Eurostat over the previous few months regarding the appropriate treatment of NAMA. The main rating agencies were aware that discussions were ongoing. Furthermore, I had also referred to the likelihood that the treatment would be off balance in the "Frequently Asked Questions" document published on my Department's website and the NAMA website at the end of July.