Ms Cora O'Brien:

If you are looking at the tax system then there are two things to say. Our tax base is extremely broad, which means that there are very few reliefs for businesses. There used to be more. The biggest one is probably the research and development tax credit for businesses trying to innovate, which is so important. Then there are reliefs for investment, like the employment investment incentive. To be honest, the most helpful thing that we could get concerning those reliefs, and the tax system in general, is better certainty for business through tax administration. That is what we hear continually. On a related point about tax certainty, it is not just about administration, but also certainty of legislation. We have asked a number of times and have had really good improvements in consultation on tax policy over the past five to ten years. However, we need consultation on tax legislation. We have a new share options regime, a really welcome development which has come out in the Finance Bill 2017. When big changes like that are announced, we would like to see that legislation put out for businesses and tax advisers to look at in draft, to see if it is going to work for them and if there are issues with it. We are in a process now, between the publication of the Finance Bill 2017 and Committee Stage, where we have a raft of small issues with the legislation. We need certainty for taxpayers through getting to see legislation in draft, and through more supports from Revenue for businesses, because that is really where it is hitting the road at the minute.