Mr. Sorley McCaughey:

There has been much speculation in the media about the potential for UK-based financial sector firms to relocate to Dublin, as well as speculation that the United Kingdom might cut its tax rates to improve competitiveness, starting a renewed race to the bottom in corporation tax rates globally. While the Irish Government considers its response, we would like to highlight the significant impact of our financial regulation and taxation practices on developing countries.

This is of concern to many of our members working on tax justice. UN figures show developing countries lose more than $100 billion annually through tax dodging, more than they gain in aid. It is imperative any potential changes which may be made to Ireland's tax or regulation practices in response to Brexit first be examined for their impact on developing countries. Such policy changes have the potential to undermine the work of Irish Aid and our overseas programmes.

While Ms Raphaëlle Faure has highlighted areas in which Ireland is doing well in maintaining policy coherence, we are doing less well in and around taxation and Irish Aid commitments. It is essential Ireland remembers our commitments to which the Government has signed up. The implications of these tax policies and practices on developing countries need to be built into our regulatory process.

If there is a significant relocation of international financial sector firms to Ireland, the Government needs to recognise the necessity of enhanced regulation and oversight of our tax policies. It should start planning for this now. This should include enhanced political oversight, ideally through the Committee of Public Accounts, which should at a minimum be granted powers of oversight regarding the tax ruling system.

Ireland's attractiveness to those companies which may wish to relocate here in the aftermath of Brexit is predicated on our continued good relationship with the EU. However, the Government's current stance on the EU's tax reform agenda undermines this impression. Brian Hayes, MEP, even went so far to suggest EU tax harmonisation was an issue which could lead to Ireland leaving the EU. While not expressed in such strong terms, the Government's opposition to important transparency initiatives, like public country-by-country reporting and the introduction of a publicly accessible register of beneficial ownership, places it firmly against the growing consensus across Europe to promote transparency around tax issues.