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

In response to Deputy Doherty's direct question, this matter did not come up at my meeting with the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland and I certainly did not seek the chamber's view on it. We had a wide-ranging discussion on a number of matters, but not on this particular issue. I have not had meetings with any companies on the matter and I have not met any company or individual on this matter, outside of the standard work that I would carry out on this. I obviously met Mr. Seamus Coffey, chairman of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, I had many meetings within my own Department on this matter, and I also sought the view of other Departments with regard to the Coffey report and what I was considering doing. When it comes to the contacts that my officials have had both now and in the past, I am certainly not in a position to speak about what happened several years ago because, as the Deputy has acknowledged, I was not in the Department at the time. I will ask my Department to see what records are available for the periods in question, though I am sure the Deputy may have got access to them through other means. I will come back to the committee when I have an answer to this.