Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. He mentioned in his opening statement that, in the context of the tax strategy papers and the tax treaty policy statement that was published, there is work ongoing in respect of the aim of the Department to have double tax agreements with all G20 countries. That is not the case at present. There are four countries outstanding with which there is no double tax arrangement or agreement in place. Several of the other double tax agreements are more than 40 years old and may not be fully concurrent with international norms at this time, given the changes, particularly in recent times, and the need to incorporate the OECD minimum standards and best practices aligned with the OECD BEPS project. Given that we are quite a distance from even having double taxation agreements with several of those countries and the agreements with other countries are out of date, will the Minister update the committee on the stage he is at with the negotiations? What is the timeline for the incorporation of standards under the OECD BEPS process? Will he provide the committee verbal and written outlines in respect of where he is at with all that and when are the expected horizons for new agreements that are compliant with BEPS?