Mr. Sorley McCaughey:

I would be interested to hear what Mr. Keegan has to say in response to the first part of that question because the answer is - this is the part to which I seek Mr. Keegan's reaction - it is well known that Ireland is an attractive location for its low corporation tax rate, which attracts the booking of profits in the State. However, in specific answer to the Deputy's question, I think it is both. Ireland now has a reputation as a conduit country through which profits are routed and end up in some of these small island sunny states around the world in which no corporation tax at all is levied. However, Ireland now is listed, along with the Netherlands and Luxembourg to a degree, as being a conduit country. That is exactly as the Deputy described it, which is that the profits are routing through Ireland and ending up in Bermuda. We know about the Dutch sandwich, in which profits are routed through the Netherlands in order that no withholding tax is paid on profits that ultimately will be booked in Bermuda, for example. Consequently, it is both issues and the double Irish about which we have heard, as well as the Dutch sandwich, illustrate how this is happening.