Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister must be concerned about the skills situation, especially for those over the age of 50. I will move on as I do now want to eat into other Members' time.

I want to ask about the proposals in President Joe Biden's tax plan. The Minister replied to Deputy Doherty's queries on the matter. We have had a long period during which Ireland's corporation tax has been described as the cornerstone of our industrial strategy. My colleague outlined President Biden's proposals and there is a concern that they will have an effect on our headline 12.5% rate of corporation tax, which has often been referred to as our tax competitiveness. In light of President Biden's proposals, it would seem that the EU's efforts to achieve a common consolidated tax base and digital tax could be back on the agenda. The OECD's base erosion and profit sharing, BEPS, initiative, which targets hybrid mismatches, double-dip tax depreciation and so on, will have an impact. BEPS also targets interest tax deductibility, which is key to the section 110 tax concession. The SPU forecasts a potential shortfall of €2 billion in corporate tax revenues as a result of changes to the international tax regime. The current corporate tax regime has been the cornerstone of Irish industrial strategy since the late 1950s. The Minister has said the proposed changes may not happen or may not have an impact. Does he agree that the prudent thing to do would be to look at industrial strategy and see what we can do in case these changes happen and have an impact? Does he believe Ireland will need a new industrial strategy? Should we be preparing one? If so, what should it look like, particularly with respect to our SME sector?