Ms Cora O'Brien:

It depends on how much research and development a company is doing. I did not specifically mean that it was close to the 12.5%. The research and development tax credit is likely to be one of the main reasons that the rate can be reduced below the 12.5% in some companies. How far below the 12.5% rate it goes depends on how much research and development is being done relative to what the profits of the company are. The effective tax rate will depend on the weighting of those two things.

I understand the concern about the low effective tax rate. It would be very difficult - I am not sure whether a debate on this issue - trying to categorise companies that are operating in Ireland - has been held before. The global effective rates, rather than the Irish effective rate, are probably more interesting for-----