Mr. James Hickey:

It is worth mentioning that there are tax credits of one variety or another in most European countries. That is one of the reasons why it is really important that section 481 remains in place. If there were no section 481, virtually all production activity that currently takes place in Ireland would move elsewhere. For example, in Northern Ireland there is a tax credit which is fully available and which would be availed of if there were no tax credit for all production in Ireland. We have to live in this very competitive international economy. It also has to be said that there is great co-operation and co-production between the various countries. We have co-production treaties for the whole of Europe on the one hand and, on the other, co-production treaties with individual territories, Canada being a good example of a country with which we have a very strong co-production treaty. There is enormous co-operation between the countries but also a certain amount of competition between the countries in respect of the locations of productions. One has to be at one's absolute highest efficiency, with the best skills available, in order to attract the production activity here.