Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Internal Market in energy is essentially about delivering a free flow and a strengthening of infrastructure in order to provide better interconnection and enhance the ability to trade across boundaries. Where, for instance, electricity is cheapest in France or wind power is most plentiful in Ireland, it offers the benefit of the cheapest source across the network. This reduces the stand-by capacity required, a significant factor for a small market, particularly when one is using renewables. Where markets are integrated, there is no need to tie up so much capital in providing stand-by capacity. One can buy at the cheapest price and thereby manage the delivery of electricity more cheaply. That is chiefly what the Internal Market in energy offers.

On the country-specific recommendations, we will not have a communication until mid-year or thereabouts.

The issues we are expected to identify will not be very dissimilar to those that were identified by the troika. They will relate to structural reform in key markets, training, legal services, etc. When they arise, it is fairly certain that they will be about structural reform. That is the key point.

The Deputy inquired about growth-friendly fiscal consolidation. This involves trying to restructure one's tax and spending in a way that is least harmful to jobs and growth. In the context of tax structures, the OECD recommends that property taxes are the best in the context of promoting growth while income taxes are the worst. It is a matter of the hierarchy of one's spending choices. On the expenditure side, it would involve investment in human capital and education, and research and development would be seen as something that should be prioritised. It would also be necessary to identify infrastructural investments that were important and that could be financed from within one's capital spend. That is what is involved.

The corporate tax rate is not an issue. Taxes are a member state competence and they would not arise in the context of country-specific recommendations. As the Deputy is aware, there are individual member states that might have a view on other countries' tax codes-----