Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank my constituency colleague. I hope I do not repeat anything that has been said already but I wish to return to the issue of the 26% growth rate. I am assuming that a unique or bespoke Irish calculation is necessary so that we as a country can have accurate data with which to plan our future. In terms of the surprise element of it, was any consideration given to the fact that something might happen and what was the gap between what the IFAC thought might happen and what actually happened? Did we think anything would happen when the base erosion project started and the double Irish loophole was closed off and, if so, what did we expect?

To follow on from a question posed by Deputy Cullinane, is there any data to suggest that it will take a number of years to wash out of the system? When we are creating a new bespoke calculation, will consideration be given to the limitations of the new sum, so to speak? What sort of issues might the new sum give rise to in the future? Has that been considered?

It was suggested earlier today that the 25% GDP ratio that pertained at the time of the crash may have stopped a default and I ask the witnesses to explain why. If the figure was 17%, for instance, would we have defaulted?

Regarding the multinationals, reference was made to shareholder profits going abroad or the fact that the shareholders are not resident here. Do we have any data on the multinational shareholder spread, in terms of where these people live or is that commercially sensitive information to which we have no access? Do we know, for example, that for every €10 of multinational shareholder profits, €7 goes abroad? Do we have that information?

I have raised at previous committee meetings the recent reductions in VAT and income tax receipts. I asked whether it could be attributed to Brexit and the answer I was given was that the data related to the months prior to Brexit. However, it seems coincidental to me. Perhaps some companies were very well prepared for Brexit and the data might be an indication of that preparedness. Is that a null argument?