Mr. Ian Kavanagh:

The development of the map is not within the remit of the Department of Finance. When the regional uplift was introduced, it was not done as a regional aid technically. It is basically layered on the 32% credit and is essentially a cultural support, so it is not a regional aid, but we utilised the regional aid map that was in existence to target the areas for the relief, so it was not developed with section 481 in mind. It predated section 481. It predated the regional uplift by approximately six years. Essentially, that map was not developed for the purpose of the credit, but the other way around in that the map was in existence and we utilised it as a mechanism to target areas to avail of the relief. That map then went out of date in, I think, 2021. There was a new one agreed. I think the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment led the negotiations on that one. With the areas identified in the 2014 map, the parameters are slightly different compared with the mechanism used to identify areas for the new map in 2022. The population coverage of the new map is significantly lower than the previous one and that one is due to be in place until 2027. When the maps changed over we went to the European Commission to ask whether it was okay to use the previous map until the regional uplift essentially ceased to exist. It agreed to that, but if we were to try to reintroduce the regional uplift again, we would have to use the new map, in our opinion, and it essentially is not fit for purpose in that respect from our point of view.

In terms of the actual negotiation of the maps and how we get it past the European Commission, it is helpful to see it as a separate entity almost when it comes to the regional updates because the regional updates will have to utilise the map as opposed to-----