Ms Julie Sinnamon:

Entrepreneurs and capital are highly mobile and, at present, approximately 15% of our high-potential start-ups now come from overseas. These are overseas entrepreneurs, most of whom have no connection with Ireland, who have decided to come to Ireland to start a business because of the ecosystem within the country and because of the view that this is an entrepreneurial economy and is a good place in which to start a business. However, from a tax perspective, there clearly are areas involving capital gains tax, share options and so on, in which the Irish offering has become less attractive in comparison with the United Kingdom's offering than was the case previously.

There is an agenda of items. Enterprise Ireland certainly will work with our parent Department to raise these issues because while I acknowledge there has been a cash issue within the Exchequer, over time this certainly has been an issue. It was raised in the Entrepreneurship Forum report and is being raised constantly. Consequently, there are real issues to be addressed on the tax side.