Mr. Martin Shanahan:

I thank the Deputy for his comments on the organisation. One statement in my opening address that I did not get to, which I would like to mention, is that it is the team of 320 people who work with me across the globe that deliver those results.

As members will have heard from Government spokespeople and the Minister for Finance yesterday, the Government believes it is an unnecessary step. I am aware of the effort that has gone into recouping the €13 billion from Apple and the work that has gone in from both sides to setting up the framework to allow that to happen. I do not believe that anybody has been negligent and I believe that it is an unnecessary step by the Commission. I also reiterate that the Commission's initial findings were unwarranted and unfounded and its own decision in this regard was internally contradictory. This will be seen as more of the same. It is the same issue rather than a new issue and, therefore, I do not believe that there will be a great level of renewed attention on this. Our current and prospective investors are well aware of the Apple tax issue and they will see this as a playing out of this issue and the Commission's previous findings.

With regard to how that has impacted on investment, the results speak for themselves. Investment has increased and we have seen no diminution in investment since the Commission announced its initial decision in respect of Apple and Ireland. In the first half of this year, job approvals increased by 20% year on year and we have experienced the same high level of investment. There is nothing to signal that this is causing an impact.

In my discussions with chief executive officers and senior leadership teams of companies, they are well aware of Ireland's position on this issue. If anything, they believe what I said in my opening contribution, which is that we have a consistent, stable and transparent tax regime, and Ireland will continue to have that.