Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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244. To ask the Minister for Finance if he has had discussions with the European Commission regarding the expenditure benchmark, and its application to Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8137/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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My officials are in regular engagement with the Commission on the interpretation and implementation of fiscal rules, including through the Output Gap Working Group and the Alternates sub-committee of the Economic & Financial Committee.

The Expenditure Benchmark will formally apply to Ireland once we enter the preventive arm of the Stability & Growth Pact. In terms of the application of the Expenditure Benchmark to Ireland, most of the components determining the calculation for 2016 are fixed at this point. The outstanding variable for 2016 is the relevant GDP deflator, which will be taken as the average of the Commission's 2015 Spring and Autumn forecasts. Given the composition of the Irish economy, there is significant volatility around GDP deflator estimates for Ireland in particular. The Commission's Spring forecast is expected to be published in the coming months. The European Commission are expected to inform Member States of the country-specific reference rate and the convergence margin components of the benchmark to apply to each Member State for the years 2017-2019 in late 2015. Discussions around these matters remain ongoing at technical level.