Ms Cora O'Brien:

This is crucial. I completely agree with Professor Stewart about the importance of indigenous business. The institute's budget submission last year was all about having a tax regime that supports indigenous business, small business and entrepreneurs. However, as Professor Stewart said, we have had a strategy going back 30 to 40 years of building up the business environment for foreign direct investment. One particular multinational shows on its website that it has 700 Irish suppliers dealing with it.

For every multinational we have, there is a range of small spin-off Irish businesses. There is a critical strategic decision to be made in seeking to position ourselves on this issue and there are consequences to that decision. In the United Kingdom businesses collect 30% of the total tax going to the British Exchequer. These jobs and the PAYE, VAT and corporation tax that go with them are a vital part of a country's economy. That is why there is such fierce competition to attract them.