Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is correct that there is no reference to the knowledge box in the Finance Bill. My colleague, the Minister for Finance, flagged on budget day that it would be in the subsequent finance Bill because we want to get it right. As the Minister outlined, we want it to be the best in class. It is part of the foreign direct investment, FDI, offering and is part of the roadmap to tax competitiveness and will bring us in line with what many of our competitors are already doing. We want to engage in consultation and get things right, and therefore the measure is not contained in the Finance Bill.

There has been much confusion in recent years about the issue of effective rates of corporation tax. I accept Deputy Doherty has raised the issue previously in the context of previous Finance Bills and that it comes up regularly for discussion by the committee. There is no internationally agreed methodology for calculating effective rates. On foot of discussions at Committee Stage of last year’s Finance Bill, the Department of Finance has produced a technical paper on effective rates of corporation tax in Ireland for the committee. The paper was co-authored by Seamus Coffey, who is an adviser to a sub-committee of the finance committee. The paper contains a comprehensive 40-page analysis of the issue and was submitted to the committee and published on the 7 April this year. The paper was prepared to provide clarity about the seemingly conflicting figures that are frequently quoted and is an excellent resource for those seeking to understand what can be a complex, technical issue. Do you wish me to stop at this point, Chairman, for Members to vote in the Dáil?