Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I am just making the point that we are kind of losing out on either end. We are being very generous on one end because most of the tax collected from these companies will be collected from the people employed in the companies rather than the companies themselves. It is a big set aside. Yet, at the same time, on the other end, we do not get any advantage.

I will move on to another area that we explored. It relates to real estate investment trusts, REITs. Last week we explored this with the tax consultant who has been assisting us. For example, in the case of a real estate investment trust, we are told the only real tax that is paid is paid by the company that is managing it, although it is not the only tax. Most of the tax liability will be on the shareholders, that is, the people who own the shares. If they are 90% in France, they pay 20% withholding tax here and are liable for the tax, with the 20% discounted, in France. I use that as an example.

We are now moving into a situation where property has become mobile whereas it had been a thing one could guarantee was fixed. How does that relate to people who own property here and would be liable to pay tax on it here, for example? Is the way this is handled encouraging a different type of ownership? Many of these might have bought assets cheaply and may well be competing in an entirely different way with people who are, say, accidental landlords in terms of their tax treatment. Is there an evaluation or a modelling of that?