asked the Minister for Finance the amounts of (a) Exchequer borrowing, (b) borrowing by semi-State agencies and (c) the total public sector borrowing requirement; and if he will express these as a percentage of GNP in tabular form in respect of each year since 1973, including an estimate for 1983, which will take into account the increase in the foreign debt as a result of devaluation.

A Cheann Comhairle, it is with some trepidation that I point out that the reply is in the form of a tabular statement which I propose to circulate in the Official Report.

Following is the Statement:

Ceist 15.

The Minister is answering Question No. 14?

We are moving on to No. 15. The answer to Question No. 14 was in the form of a tabular statement with no trimmings. I suggest that the Deputy should not ask any supplementaries.

I cannot ask a supplementary question if I do not have the information.

It will drift into a number of questions.

Will the improvement in the Exchequer borrowing requirement be at the expense generally of the overall public sector borrowing requirement which has been growing? The percentages are always expressed——

I am ruling that out of order. We cannot have a supplementary question to a question which has not been answered.

It has been answered.

It was answered in the form of a tabular statement.

Does that mean we cannot ask any questions if the reply is in the form of a tabular statement?

I am asking for the Deputy's co-operation.

I am anxious to co-operate with the Chair. This is not argumentative. It would concern any Minister for Finance, not just the present Minister. Do the figures show that the improvement, such as it may be, in the Exchequer borrowing requirement as a percentage of GNP is, in a sense, at the expense of a disimprovement in the public sector borrowing requirement?

That is a separate Question.

It is not. That is what I asked about.

I should like to give the Deputy the information which he will be able to read from the tables. I will give him the bottom line of the tables. The total Exchequer borrowing requirement for 1982 was £1,945 million for 1983, £1,722. That is the budget estimate. The semi-State sector borrowing requirement was £521 million for 1982 and £664 million for 1983. Total public sector borrowing requirement was £2,466 in 1982 as against £2,386 million in 1983 with an increasing total for semi-State sector borrowing.

That is the point.

15.