Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the Commissioner here this afternoon and thank him for his straight talking and for sharing his views on the many challenges facing the European Union at this time. The committee is very preoccupied with Brexit and the Commissioner dealt with that. Does he believe the Commission understands and appreciates the special and unique position of Ireland in respect of Brexit? The Government and the Parliament are trying to get that message out but I would be interested in knowing if that work is succeeding and the Commission understands our position in respect of the peace process, the Border, free trade and the common travel area. What is his view of newspaper reports that the Irish Government will seek legal protection for the special status of Northern Ireland to guard against the threat of a hard border on the island? Perhaps there is a possibility of the North remaining within the Single Market and the customs Union thus safeguarding the free movement of goods and people on the island, irrespective of Britain's future status.

It is a practical solution that is being floated and I am interested to hear the Commissioner's view on it.

We heard in the news in recent days that draft proposals are due to be published by the European Commission next week on a common consolidated corporate tax base. The latter part of these proposals represent a significant threat to Ireland's tax sovereignty. Consolidating the tax base will hand the Commission too much power and influence over the tax rates of individual member states. It is tax harmonisation through the back door. This is an issue that will be very much in the news next week. The Commissioner will appreciate from his time in public life in this State that our 12.5% corporation tax rate is very important to us and a fundamental aspect of our foreign direct investment policy. Will he comment on that?

On the migration issue and the EU-Turkey deal, there tends to be a focus here in Ireland on the humanitarian aspects of these matters. However, it seems the EU is looking at the issue more from the perspective of simply stemming the flow of migrants. The proposal was that 160,000 people would be relocated but, thus far, only 5,000 such relocations have taken place. Will Mr. Hogan give his view on whether Europe has moved away from a humanitarian response to the crisis?