Mr. Seamus Coffey:

I would not necessarily say that that is a problem. If a company is registered in Malta, and does all its business in Ireland, where should it be tax resident? We would want that company to be tax resident here. If all it has in Malta is its registration and all its business is carried on here, we would want it to be subject to our tax rules, not theirs. If we have a company that is registered here and does all its business there, we cannot be inconsistent about it. That is what the tax treaty aims to achieve. It addresses issues where there is a conflict between two countries claiming taxing rights over a company. It is a common provision around the world that if two countries claim the tax residence of a company, the tie-breaker is the place of effective management and control. Those rules are being reformed, in a sense, through the various base erosion and profit shifting, BEPS, actions at the OECD. Countries can now negotiate it on the facts of each company. The Irish tax authority might be able to question it and look into it in a different fashion, but it will still come down to a tie-breaker, that is, where a company does its business. As these companies do their business in Malta, we cannot be inconsistent about it. Their operations are in Malta.