Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Coffey refers specifically to the pharma sector and the €15 billion impact it has on payroll, supply and so on. He seems to critique the proposal by the Commission on the basis that it only uses company financial data. I do not want to put words into his mouth, but my ears are telling me that the Commission's fundamental proposal is quite flawed, or at the very minimum can be seriously critiqued, because it does not delve into the very factors to which Mr. Coffey refers. A country such as Ireland has a huge dependence on foreign direct investment and notwithstanding global tax justice, all these are issues that are sometimes raised, including and the BEPS process under way through the OECD. To be fair, Ms O'Brien is right that we must give that process a fair wind and a chance to settle. However, there could be serious permutations for Ireland's ability to continue to attract FDI and maintain it. The pharmaceutical sector, for instance, has a regional importance in the south, east, west, north and north west. I am not being too parochial; it spans the whole country. If I were in the pharmaceutical sector considering these proposals and if I were a lead on a site making strategic decisions from a corporate point of view, I would be potentially quite worried by these proposals as they stand.