Mr. Karl Flannery:

Let me add to the question of CGT. There is a problem developing in that companies that are looking to be bought out or are trying to sell up are actively relocating their enterprises into the United Kingdom. They may have made an acquisition in the UK and then they relocate the company to avail of the preferential CGT treatment in the United Kingdom. This is an issue for Ireland. I have seen it in a couple of companies in the technology sector.

On the issue of CGT, an effort was made in the last budget to introduce roll-over relief. Something needs to be done to clean that up and make it simpler. If people roll over their gains from a company they have sold, it should be just a straight roll-over, instead of having to claim it back. The chance of having two successful tech start-ups in a row are reasonably low, so why not just offer the relief there and then instead of having to claim it back five or six years later?