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

To take Deputy Mathews's point first, it would be able to provide some of that information. It is a matter for the committee to determine how that dialogue between Revenue and the Department of Finance proceeds.

On Deputy Doherty's point about a review, in the first instance the review is done in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, but there is an issue for the Department of Finance and Revenue in that. The issue of review is important because in terms of first mover advantage, I understand there is a market in the United States of approximately $27 billion. That has got to go somewhere and the question is, where will it go? We know for a fact that at least one, if not two, European Union countries are looking at this in terms of the potential it provides their industries. Given that, as Deputy Doherty said, we have built this up over a consistent period of years to the point where we are a major global player in the area, if we do not move and if we do not make it clear that the funds that come here are safe, at some time in the future we could be jeopardising the future development of this sector, which no one wants to see happen.

In terms of why this is important, it is because, as I understand it, in excess of 24,000 aeroplanes are on order over the course of the coming years. This is an enormous growth industry, not, as Deputy Doherty said, in terms of the jobs but in terms of the funds. The funds leverage lots of things we would all like to do in terms of public private partnerships and funds that will become available to shore up the banking sector and the like. That is why it is important there is certainty around this issue. The banks do not have the money to lend because they are broken across the European Union and internationally. They are averse to that kind of risk. Therefore, routing funds into Ireland for the purposes of this sector, which has developed in recent years, is something that will be significant as a funds industry component. However, it has never been suggested by Government or anybody else that there is an enormous number of jobs within the industry. There is the potential to leverage the funds that come into the country for the purposes of the support for the sector, and to leverage the jobs that are required as a result of investment. It is a classic funds issue. I do not see a difficulty with the review if that is what the committee believes appropriate, but that review would be in the first instance a Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport related review being fed into on our side in the Department of Finance.