Professor Philip Lane:

Exactly. Then, in terms of designing a policy response, maybe for viability reasons the relevant group is that of the advanced economies globally, for which the OECD is the forum. The OECD has 30-something advanced economy members and this is where a lot of the tax reform is leading. The position of the Irish Government is that it is the best forum in which to work on this issue. Within the EU we see local variations on it and this is an area in which countries have a lot of autonomy. We have just seen the new tax Bill in the US since the end of last year. The net impact of that tax reform is still unclear. There is a lot in it and many corporations are still working out their strategic response to it. It is partly the US tax Bill and partly it is the final outcome, for example from the OECD, on digital taxation. Partly it is the question of whether there will be an EU dynamic within the OECD dynamic.

This is a constant issue. It is coming back to policy actions.