Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I understand the Revenue Commissioners are in discussion with the Data Protection Commissioner in terms of the enabling legislation, that there is not a dispute and that there should not be a difficulty in this regard. Deputy McGrath is right in saying that it requires compliance on both sides. It is worth saying in regard to this standalone agreement, that this is a requirement which the US had. If I can be very crude about it, it was raising the bar because of its own considerations. It was crucially important from our perspective that we were in there first, given the importance of trade relations and the very significant activity in terms of financial transactions between both countries and the number of US multinationals here. Ireland is the fourth country to get it over the line. I think the British were first. It is important in terms of where our sphere of influence is and where we would like to keep it.

The US Congress was proposing that companies which did not sign up to this could face very significant penalties. From the perspective of where our interests lie and being in there quite quickly, it was very important that we made that agreement early on.

It is to the credit of those behind me, the officials in Revenue and in the Department of Finance, that we have managed to get this over the line for what is a small diplomatic mission.

On the second issue, TIEAs are crucially important and make a huge difference in terms of our relationship with other countries. Last year I spent some time at a conference in Paris with the OECD on the question of tax compliance and governance. It has become a new norm that the more agreements one has in place, the greater the ranking in terms of transparency and accountability when it comes to tax evasion. To answer the Deputy's question, it depends very much with whom one has the agreement. There is not the same compliance with every country but we have found them a useful means through which the State can come to a relationship with other countries.

On the Montserrat question, its national holiday is 17 March, the same as Ireland. I am not sure if St. Patrick is the national saint but it is something we have in common. However, I would point out that we do not have much trade in common. I understand that in 2011 Montserrat was Ireland's 209th largest trading partner, total trade was valued at €53,000, exports were valued at €31,000 and imports at €22,000. It is clear we have a long way to go. This agreement is important for Montserrat and it is important for Ireland and is another agreement we have forged. We have a very ambitious target as I have mentioned to the committee previously about signing such agreements and the more we sign the better.