Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Heydon raises a very topical issue. At the most recent informal finance Ministers' meeting we had in Romania, this was a subject for discussion. As the Deputy has said, the European Commission has indicated again that it will publish proposals to remove the principle of unanimity from taxation decision making in the future. It is apparent to me that for all kinds of different reasons, many countries have a big concern about that. In the past, it would have been only Ireland and one or two other countries with the strongest views on this matter but now there are more countries, for different reasons, sharing our view.

If I may, I wish to go back to Brexit briefly. Reflection will be required if we find ourselves moving into October with no clarity on where Brexit stands, especially in the context of putting together a budget a few weeks beforehand. I wish to flag to the committee that such a situation would require a lot of thought from me and from the Government and a lot of engagement with the Oireachtas. It is one thing to put together a budget, as we did last year, where the central case scenario was that an orderly agreement would be reached. It is pretty likely that this will continue to be the central case scenario in that we know that we will go all the way up to at least October with the current trading conditions and political relationships continuing. However, finding ourselves in October with the UK due to leave that month will require work and a great deal of effort in terms of dealing with it.