Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 92: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will comment on the publication by EUROSTAT of 2009 data on deficits and debt burdens of EU Governments which showed Ireland to have had the biggest general government deficit of any EU member state for 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17221/10]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 103: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will comment on the implications of the EUROSTAT classification of the recapitalisation of Anglo Irish Bank in 2009 for the deficit reduction plans that have been agreed with the European Commission. [17274/10]

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 116: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will comment on the publication by EUROSTAT of 2009 data on EU government deficits and debt burdens which showed Ireland to have had the biggest general government deficit of any EU member state for 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17233/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 92, 103 and 116 together.

On April 22nd Eurostat published fiscal data which showed a General Government Deficit of 14.3% of GDP for Ireland in 2009. This figure is a revision of the Budget day estimate of 11.7% of GDP due to a technical reclassification of a €4 billion investment by the government in Anglo Irish Bank. Initially the Irish authorities, with regard to Eurostat guidelines, classified this as a financial transaction and as such it did not affect the general government balance. However, since then the Irish authorities have reviewed the matter in light of later information and concluded that the transaction should now be considered a capital injection rather than a financial transaction. This was reported to Eurostat in the statistical transmission published last week.

The result is the deficit has been re-calculated to be 14.3% of GDP. However, there is no additional borrowing as a result of this technical reclassification. The Exchequer Balance, National Debt and General Government Debt had already accounted for this borrowing. The underlying General Government Balance excluding this reclassification is 11.8% of GDP, which is broadly in line with the Budget day estimate.

This reclassification is a once-off adjustment that only impacts on 2009 and does not affect the Budget day forecast for a General Government Balance of 11.5% of GDP for 2010. That said, it is important to note that our deficit is very high and this is why we have taken the various series of measures since July 2008 to strengthen the Budgetary position. Furthermore, it points to the need for continued fiscal discipline and further adjustments. In that context, Ireland's fiscal targets have not changed in light of these statistical returns, and the Government's agreed target to reduce the General Government Deficit to below 3% of GDP by 2014 still stands.