Vol. 457 No. 3
35 Miss Quill asked the Minister for Finance if he has satisfied himself that Ireland's GDP figures are a satisfactory basis for assessing our eligibility for Economic and Monetary Union in view of the large discrepancy between Ireland's GNP and GDP and the extent to which transfer priced exports and highly mobile export manufacturing account for that difference. [15229/95]
37 Mr. M. McDowell asked the Minister for Finance if he has satisfied himself that Ireland's GDP figures are a satisfactory basis for assessing our eligibility for Economic and Monetary Union in view of the large discrepancy between Ireland's GNP and GDP and the extent to which transfer priced exports and highly mobile export manufacturing account for that difference. [15227/95]
I propose to answer Questions Nos. 35 and 37 together. The Maastricht Treaty specifies that GDP is the basis on which eligibility for the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union is to be assessed under the deficit and debt criteria. I am satisfied with this provision of the Treaty, and I wish to point out that the Treaty contains no scope for the use of any measure other than GDP in this context. I am also satisfied with the quality of Ireland's statistics on GDP and GNP.
The relatively large difference between Ireland's GDP and GNP referred to in the Deputies' question reflects the structure of this country's economy. In particular, it reflects the level of profit repatriations from our large foreign-owned manufacturing sector along with the requirement to service overseas debt.
