Ms Joanne Richardson:

I will respond to a couple of the Deputy's points on taxation. We all agree that the cornerstone of Irish industrial policy for the past five decades has been our corporation tax. We always reinforce the point that the jewel in the crown of Ireland's offering remains our 12.5% corporation taxation rate and overall corporate taxation policy. This is what gets us to the table when companies are considering world investment decisions. Any uncertainty or greyness around our corporation tax can be very damaging in terms of retention and growth of US investment.

Mr. Cotter referred to assets held by US companies in Ireland. Consistently for the past seven years, including this year and last year, 70% of all of new investment in this country has come from companies that are already based here. The opportunity for future investments - the badge of honour or advantage we have - is the 600 global companies that are located here.

As the statistics speak for themselves, I do not propose to repeat what Mr. Cotter said about jobs, investment and so forth. On the US side, we are mindful of highly damaging commentary that is made about Ireland's tax status - for example, when the country is labelled as a tax haven. While there some cases of aggressive tax practices, they all come within the ambit of approved taxation policies.

Ireland is in the highest international tier, according to the OECD and has tax treaties with 60 countries, including the United States of America. There is an onus on industry, the Government and all of those speaking to the international media to ensure that Ireland is not branded as a tax haven. We are in full compliance and we must all remember that having a highly compliant, transparent and open taxation system remains a big jewel in our crown. We are all aware of the forthcoming US presidential election and tax codes always features in election debates. However, all of our multinational companies are global and need bases outside the United States of America. Europe is our biggest market and will be for the foreseeable future. In that context, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are the top three destinations for US investment flows into Europe, while approximately 50% of all US investment still flows into Europe. Therefore, we need to ensure that Ireland continues to be positioned as a global location for foreign direct investment and what keeps us at that table is our corporate tax rate of 12.5%