There is a "100%" chance of Ireland being hit by another recession, the Dail's public spending watchdog has heard.
The Public Accounts Committee was told the State should minimise financial risks in the future - as it emerged Ireland is drowning in a debt of €205billion.
National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) chief Conor O'Kelly noted Brexit and international tax rates among the factors that could lead to a recession.
Mr O'Kelly said: "I don’t mean to say this glibly but I suppose whether Brexit, Italy , corporate tax or some other challenge that we have Ireland is a small, open economy, highly indebted, relies on international investors for 90pc of its borrowings.
"We’re in the permanent contingency business in Ireland with the debt that we have.
"People talk about whether the bond market is predicting recession or who’s predicting a recession.
"I’ll give you a prediction of recession. The chance of a recession in Ireland is 100%.
"So we can’t afford not to have a contingency in place."
He added: "We have to remain vigilant to that and we do that by having significant cash buffers at all times, smoothing out the profile of the debt to make sure we minimise the refinancing risks in the future."
Generations to come will foot the State’s “mountain of debt”, according to the NTMA.
And taxpayers have already paid €60 billion in interest on the mammoth bill in the last decade.
CEO of the NTMA, Mr O’Kelly said: “Ireland is not in a good position from a debt point of view.
“We have paid €33 billion in interest over the last five years. This interest bill is enormous.
“We paid €60 billion in interest over the last decade. That compares to €20 billion in the previous decade.
“That is all to do with the elevated amount of debts rather than the rate of interest which a lot of people concentrate on.”
