Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I echo that call. It is important that we frame the discussion we will have this week and next week on Committee Stage of the Finance Bill in the economic context we are in. As Deputy McGrath said, we are all aware of the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the Exchequer figures, but last night's victory for the Trump campaign has created further uncertainty, which the Minister himself referred to previously when speaking of the uncertainty of that campaign. One of the commitments the President-elect has made is to cut corporation tax from 35% to 15% and try to relocate American companies back to his own shore. I have been on the record of the Dáil on many occasions talking about the potential volatility of our corporation tax receipts and the fact that 40% of those receipts are paid by ten companies. It would not take a huge amount of movement to create a very unstable tax scenario for this country. While we will not be able to pre-empt what will happen either in Congress or the Senate at any time in the future, we must be conscious of the fact that a major political pledge has been made, and that pledge has now become more real as a result of the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States of America. Therefore, it is important that we have that brief discussion that frames and sets out what we are looking into as we discuss the issues in the Finance Bill, whether we should cut taxes or increase them.