Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I know the Minister is a busy man and he was not present for it, but he might read the blacks of the last briefing we received from someone in his Department. The position she outlined was an overtly hostile one. In our back-and-forth discussions with the Department, it has asserted that, although it is strongly opposed to a financial transaction tax because it believes that many jobs will migrate to the City of London, it cannot support that view because it does not know what the proposal is. One cannot hold both positions.

Perhaps it is just a case of some scenario modelling. We know the broad parameters. Could the committee receive a codified analysis that went beyond anecdotes? I am not saying that the Department is wrong, only that we have not been given the codified case for its position. The Minister might consider whether one could be developed.