Mr. Sorley McCaughey:

It is even greater than suggested in the book. However, because we do not know exactly how much wealth is held offshore and because of the secrecy of small island semi-states and corporate secrecy we cannot put an accurate figure on it.

A recommendation made in an OECD paper of 1998 was on harmful tax practices. It suggested countries obtain a better understanding of the tax avoidance schemes in which the multinationals operating in their jurisdictions were involved and require multinationals to advise the authorities as to what they were engaged in. Interestingly, this point is made in the BEPS action plan. It is point No. 12. If many of the multinationals that claim to be resident in Ireland and are operational in Africa and the Middle East are really operational in these areas, they will have a good understanding of the tax avoidance schemes — tax avoidance is legal – but they need an understanding of what the schemes are. Therefore, Ireland should be in a strong position to ask them about the tax avoidance schemes in which they are involved and, by extension, share knowledge of them with developing countries.