Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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237. To ask the Minister for Finance the cost of servicing the national debt; the total amount owed and the interest rate paid each year from 2010 to 2014, inclusive; the amount of interest he anticipates will be paid in the year 2015; the details of the source of funds used to pay the debt; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33596/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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A time series on the outstanding stock of national debt and the servicing of national debt are available in the Budgetary & Economic Statistics published by my Department. However, as general government debt expressed as a percentage of gross domestic product is the standard metric internationally for assessing debt levels, this is the more appropriate metric to look at.  On that basis, the general government data is set out in the following table.

The national accounts are compiled in the EU according to the European System of National and Regional Accounts (ESA) framework.  Since July 2014, the national accounts are being presented on a new statistical basis, ESA 2010. The table presents 2010 to 2013 data on an ESA 2010 basis, as restated by the CSO in the quarterly governmnet  finance statistics published in July 2014.  

It should be noted, however, that the latest estimates for 2014 and 2015 are those published in my Department's Stability Programme Update of April 2014, which were prepared on the previous ESA 95 basis. The ESA 2010 changes will impact the forecast for interest due on general government debt for the years 2014 and 2015 and will be included in the next update of the macro-economic and fiscal forecasts, to be published as part of Budget 2015.

Table 1Interest, debt and average interest rate 20102015