Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 100: To ask the Minister for Finance if there will be an independent review of the €3.6 billion miscalculation that took place in his Department's 2010 figures; when this will be completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34013/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The figure reported to Eurostat at the end of September for general government debt for end-2010 was €148 billion, or 94.9% of GDP. Subsequently it has emerged that this gross debt figure overstated the amount by €3.6 billion due to a double-counting error. The corrected figure for general government debt for 2010 is €144.4 billion, or 92.6% of GDP. As the Deputy is aware, I told the Dáil in the Topical Debate on this issue on 2nd November that this is a matter of upmost gravity and that I am determined to discover how this occurred and what needs to be done to ensure that such errors do not happen in the future. To that end, the Secretary General of the Department of Finance has instigated a review of the matter within the Department and the intention is to have this review concluded by the end of the month.

As I have announced, and as the Secretary General has also informed the Public Accounts Committee, there will also be an external review. This will assess the internal management report along with the systems and risk controls involved in the compilation and reporting of General Government Debt. Accordingly, it will review the respective roles of the Department, the Central Statistics Office and the National Treasury Management Agency and the interaction between all three organisations. This second review will also make recommendations to ensure that the systems are robust. My aim is that the External Review will be completed by the end of the year.