Mr. Eamonn O'Dea:

The distinction here would be that for the purposes of the treaty, the multilateral convention is necessary to put in the principal purposes test which will then govern the operation of the treaty in determining where a company is deemed to be resident, whether in Ireland or the treaty partner country. As the Deputy correctly points out, however, we also have a general anti-avoidance provision in our domestic legislation and to the extent that there was any effort through artificial arrangements to get a benefit in respect of Irish corporation or income tax by reference to residence provisions of Irish law, that would be governed by our general anti-avoidance provisions as well as the residence provisions in our domestic law. To the extent that the residence is for the purpose of the operation of our domestic law, that will be governed by Irish domestic provisions, including our general anti-avoidance provision. Where it comes to the determination of the residence of a company for the purposes of a bilateral agreement, the governing provisions would be bilateral provisions and the multilateral convention, which Luxembourg and we are ratifying, will provide for a principal purpose test to apply in the application of that treaty. If that treaty were to be used in a way that would wholly and artificially gain the benefits of that treaty for the purposes of reducing tax, it would be possible to limit, prevent and challenge those purposes.