Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are getting back into familiar territory. The reliefs we are referring to are normal features of our tax code and a normal consequence of how large global companies are organised. If we were to remove the relief structures from our tax code, we would not be able to have policies that mirror how large companies, which employ many people in Ireland, are structured and tax them effectively. What we have through our relief system is no different from relief systems available in other jurisdictions. As we have large, valuable companies present here we have valuable assets with regard to intellectual property. It is one of the reasons our figures are so big. Where we fundamentally differ is the Deputy sees a relief as something that is illegitimate and used aggressively to reduce the tax a company will pay, whereas I see the different reliefs we have in our tax code as standard features of the tax code of a small, open economy. As we have large employers that invest a lot in our economy, the figures for these reliefs are big.