Mr. Paolo Gentiloni:

I thank the honourable Deputy for his three questions. First, I think and said briefly in my introduction that, of course, this attraction of the Irish economy is there. I do not think it is only based on the corporate tax rate and I mentioned several aspects that contribute to the that attractiveness. Having said that, it is clear that what we are working towards with the OECD global agreement and the compromise reached until now among 134 countries is not the cancellation of competitiveness among tax regimes. Such competition will remain. As the Deputy knows very well, the level of the tax rate under discussion in the OECD framework is much lower than in most European countries or in the US. Competition will remain. It is questionable but my opinion is that the more stable and global framework is accepted by investors, including foreign investors, who are important and attracted to the Irish economy. First, this is not the only attraction factor; second, this attraction factor will not be eliminated. It will be in a global framework and will remain there.

On the second question, I cannot imagine the US missing in this global agreement. We are all aware that this OECD agreement has been under discussion for six or seven years and has come near to a conclusion in the past few months because of the new initiative and political will of the new US Administration.

This is something that we all know. It is obvious that if there is no US, there is no deal. If the US commitment on this deal is not only clear but also, in a certain sense, the pushing factor of this whole process, it will be far easier to reach agreement.

I do not know how long my answers should be but if they are too long, I ask the Chairman to stop me.