Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the officials and thank the Taoiseach and his Department for taking on board some of my suggestions on the need for increased transparency in the IFSC Clearing House Group, especially publishing the minutes. That has added to the transparency. I also called for a number of other measures, including provision of documentation, list of attendees and presentations at sub-groups, as that is where the real business occurs. I will return to that later.

I will concentrate on the Clearing House Group because it has been of interest to me since becoming a Member of the House. We are all aware of the discussions taking place about multinationals and their tax strategies in Ireland. It appears that the proposals which come forward from the industry through the clearing house group are largely adopted in the Finance Bill. Mr. Harry McGee wrote last October that 21 measures were adopted in the Finance Bill 2012. How many proposals were put forward by this group? Was it just the 21 or were there more proposals which were rejected? I know the 21 proposals which were accepted were not accepted in their totality and some were adapted but, by and large, the 21 proposals were accepted and included in the Finance Bill. How many proposals did the Clearing House Group propose?