Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Madam Chair, my apologies for having to be in the House at the same time. I welcome the Ministers and thank them for coming before the committee.

I have two questions. First, notwithstanding that many commentators in the Houses of the Oireachtas over recent years have questioned the wisdom of the 12.5% corporation tax rate and suggested that it should be changed, that it was unfair and that other countries were deserving of a fairer share of the goodies etc., I ask the Minister for Finance whether our EU colleagues and colleagues across the OECD are fully aware of our geographic location in terms of gaining access to the markets across and around Europe? Given we are now an island across an island and somewhat remote from the centre of Europe, is this readily recognised?

My question to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform is in on the expenditure proposals. I welcome what is laid out. Might it be possible and has the Minister the flexibility to intervene in that there appear to be some deficiencies in the plan that may be affected by economic circumstances, foreseen or unforeseen, for example, to a greater or lesser extent than foreseen? Will the Minister intervene positively to support them to keep the plan on target?

There are two questions. I will have two more, if I have time.