Professor Frank Barry:

There may be. If we test the Deputy's hypothesis and it blows up in our face we cannot go back and will have lost the benefit of the stability of the regime. If we are going to test the Deputy's hypothesis we would want to think very carefully before doing so. I would be risk-averse in that regard. I believe the cost to us of losing this spectacular stability which we have built up would be significant. However, that is for the Oireachtas rather than me to decide.

On the Deputy's question in regard to where else in Europe American companies would go to sell advertising space, the Deputy will be aware that Irish people are not good at languages and so we have to import into Ireland people with the language skills to do this selling. The fact that we are an English-language environment is obviously of importance to American companies but it is not in my view the huge advantage that the Deputy portrays it to be. Dell initially set up here but when Poland joined the EU it moved there, where labour costs are one-quarter of what they are here. The English-language environment was not significant in that instance. Also, as young people across Europe tend to be pretty good English speakers, it is a declining advantage to the extent that it is one. There are genuine differences of opinion on these issues. I think we can fairly disagree on those things.