Ms Cora O'Brien:

Approximately 100 companies will be involved in this proposal so I would guess that the majority of those companies will be well on the far side of the criteria for the €750 million. Any issues around uncertainty or the threshold are probably limited to a small number of companies operating with a turnover very close to that threshold, but I agree with the Senator. It is not an exact science. It is difficult to be precise about it but there is a look-back process in terms of looking back at their position for the past 12 months, so there is some element of being able to better predict it. The issue about being close to a threshold or whatever is a down side of having a threshold and is another reason an arbitrary number like €750 million is difficult to administer for everybody.