John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is worth knowing the indications from foreign direct investment companies are twofold. When Great Britain was indicating it was about to leave the European Union, foreign direct investment companies in Ireland were still taking on people, expanding and building. It is also interesting that if we go back six months, when the indications from the United States were it might change its tax rate, foreign direct investment companies were still doing this. As a matter of fact, in my constituency Bausch and Lomb, a US-Canada based company, is building extensions and taking on people. Speaking to companies around the world, as all of us have, they state quite bluntly there is a reasonable and favourable tax rate in Ireland and they mention how Ireland is geographically placed in Europe. The cost factor of exporting from the US across the Atlantic rather than exporting from Ireland to Europe is big factor. Companies tend to do what they think is right for their profit margins, irrespective of what they think might happen in their hinterland.