Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will address the points the Senator has put to me, starting with the matter of the CCCTB. We will engage constructively in any action from the European Commission on matters like this. We will not, however, agree to any proposal that might undermine our competitiveness as a country. We need to be very clear here about corporation tax. Many other countries have made choices around how they want to deliver a competitive edge for their citizens. Due to our size, location and relatively small population, it is entirely appropriate that we have a corporation tax policy that reduces the kind of costs and risks faced by a small, open, island economy as it tries to do business. Like every other recent Minister for Finance, I too will maintain that approach.

The Senator's second question concerned the role of corporation tax and its effects on our tax base. The first point I would make is that many other countries face the same challenge, but that does not mean that we should not do something about it here in Ireland. In the coming years we are going to see a change in how our dependence on corporate tax take is driven by a certain number of companies. The simple reason for this is that as the rest of our domestic economy grows, as our banks begin to recover profitability, for example, all these developments will change the composition of our corporate tax base. To answer the question as to how I want to deal with this matter in the coming while, the first thing is to continue to support a change in our economic prospects that means that more companies of different kinds and, it is hoped, more investors will pay corporation tax here in Ireland. That is change number one. The second change is simply to make other decisions on other forms of personal tax, meaning that we do not end up being over-reliant on corporation tax in the future.