Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the groups for their presentations. This year there has been more positive commentary about Ministers travelling to various countries for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. When I was in the United States last year, I saw the benefits of it, with significant work being done in networking and developing contacts.

Is the OECD’s tax co-operation proposal to deal with base erosion and profit shifting, BEPS, on IBEC’s radar? What impact could it have on a small open economy like ours? In the last budget some steps were made in catering for a more transparent international tax regime.

What is Ireland's and the European Union’s relationship with Taiwan? I know there is no Taiwanese ambassador to Ireland for all sorts of complicated reasons. There was a discussion recently of an EU agreement with Taiwan. Is this on IBEC’s radar?