Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 77: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will estimate the general Government deficit for 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, inclusive of capital injections to Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25638/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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On April 22nd this year Eurostat published a revised estimate of a General Government Deficit of 11.5% for Ireland in 2010. The forecasts for the General Government Balance for the years 2011 to 2014 published in Budget 2010 remain unchanged.

The 2010 recapitalisation of Irish Nationwide Building Society and Anglo Irish Bank has been made pending the agreement of the respective restructuring plans for those institutions with the EU Commission. Until these plans have been agreed, it is not appropriate to include the Promissory Notes issued to these two institutions in any measure of the General Government Balance. In that context, the Promissory Notes have been classified as financial transactions, and thus have no effect on the General Government Balance in 2010. This decision can be reviewed as necessary following the outcome of discussions with the Commission on the restructuring plans.

The re-classification of the capital injection in Anglo Irish Bank in 2009 of €4bn impacted on the General Government Balance only in 2009 and had no effect on the estimate for subsequent years. Any potential future re-classifications of injections into financial institutions would also affect only the year in which that might occur and would not affect the forecasts for future years.