Minister for Finance Michael McGrath said at the launch of the Department of Finance's report on public debt that Ireland had significant liquid assets of €40 billion, which brought down the net debt to €184 billion. Photograph: Leah Farrell/RollingNews
The chief economist in the Department, John McCarty, has estimated that public debt will continue to fall for the rest of the decade. Mr McCarthy said at present there is one pensioner for every four working people. That ratio is estimated to become one to three by 2035 and one to two by 2050. That will have implications for pensions, health, and long-term care spending, all of which will increase.Listen | 35:15
The only thing that could definitely be said about AI, said Mr McCarthy, was that it would be transformative, and policy had a role to play to help rule out the possibility of “transformative bad”. He said borrowing over 10 years was now costing the State just over 2.8 per cent of yield, which he said compared favourably to most advanced countries.