Mr. Niall Cody:

I am smiling because when somebody says to speak briefly about corporation tax, we could be here for a long time. Corporation tax receipts - these amount to €10.5 billion in 2018 - increased significantly in the past three years. We have published a comprehensive report each year. We will publish another report on 8 May next showing the profile for 2018. Approximately 40% of corporation tax is paid by the top ten corporations. The point I was making in that article is the idea that this has stayed between 37% and 41% over a number of years. There is a table in the previous report, which I think Mr. Seamus Coffey addressed, that referred to how we tracked the top ten in 2014, since they were not all in the top ten at that stage, how that has changed over time, and what they are now. There have been significant developments internationally relating to corporation tax, and base erosion and profiting shifting. There has been re-profiling and re-platforming of the corporation tax figures. They are a risk; they are volatile but they are especially strong. We will publish a report on 8 May. The Department of Finance is conducting a study on whether, in light of the changes in the past few years, more work can be done on the profile.

It is, however, very difficult to profile. I was at the Committee of Public Accounts a few weeks ago and one of the issues raised was why do we not forecast it properly. I listen to many programmes about business on the radio, and one of the issues often referred to is a company not meeting its quarterly profit targets as determined three months ago. Think about that in the aggregate, where a company has full information. It is very difficult to aggregate that across. We can, however, only continue to work and look at this. It has replatformed. We look at the onshoring of intellectual property where there have been massive changes in that environment.