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

It is not a description of Switzerland that I would share or use. The other feature that all the economies to which the Deputy refers have is that they are small. I do not believe that competitiveness in the use of tax policy is only the prerogative of large countries but, I as I have argued in this committee in the past, I accept that big and small economies alike need to adjust policies to meet new international standards and respond to issues such as have been raised both here and abroad. I have made the point that not enough recognition is given to Ireland for the change that it has made, in the person of myself and the former Minister, Deputy Noonan, in response to these issues whether through the OECD or with changes we have made ourselves. I am sure that finance Ministers of the countries in question would make a similar point about the changes they have made. For example, the Swiss finance Minister would draw attention to the fact that Swiss authorities now automatically provide very significant amounts of information to other tax authorities relating to the use of bank accounts within the jurisdiction. This allows progress to be made in ensuring that taxes are levied fairly on both big companies and individuals. The progress that has been made in recent years does not get the recognition it merits but we need to continue to make progress.