Dr. Micheál Collins:

We are not alone as a country in not giving enough detailed focus to this and making comparisons internationally remains quite challenging. It often boils down to quite technical decisions as to what we do and do not count as part of the overall suite of tax expenditure. In my experience, I would say the Irish figures are medium to high relative to other countries. We are similar to other countries in not asking questions about whether we should retain them or not. It is interesting to look at the evolution of policies in other countries over time, which have given more focus to analysing the scale of these expenditures and made decisions as to whether to retain them, adapt them or continue them. I would say we are at around mid-table or a bit above.