Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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53. To ask the Minister for Finance the extent to which Ireland’s debt to GDP ratio compares with other countries within the Eurozone and without; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28913/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The latest comparative data on government debt are shown in Eurostat's press release for the EDP notification tables on 23 April 2014.

Sixteen Member States had government debt ratios higher than 60% of GDP at the end of 2013.

Ireland's end-2013 debt was recorded at 202.9 billion which is 123.7% per cent of GDP and is the fourth highest debt ratio in the EU28 area, behind Greece (175.1%), Italy (132.6%) and Portugal (129.0%).

Three Member States had debt ratios less than 30 per cent of GDP these are Estonia (10.0%), Bulgaria (18.9%) and Luxembourg (23.1%).

In the EU28 the end 2013 government debt was €11.4 trillion* or 87.1 per cent of GDP.

* A trillion is here defined as 10 to the power of 12