Ms Jean Acheson:

One of the reasons we add that detail is because month to month we just get the CT receipts, which are the latest picture of the tax. However, it is good to take a step back and look at the other contributions. Regarding employment by foreign-owned multinationals, it is just under €1 billion for the latest year of CT returns, so that is about 35% of all employment by companies. However, as the chairman mentioned, those are higher-earning jobs on average, so they are paying more than half of all employment taxes – income tax, USC, PRSI and so on. It is a disproportionate share, reflecting those higher wages. The report goes into detail because as well as foreign multinationals there are Irish multinationals and the domestic sector. It is worth noting the domestic sector too. Non-multinationals account for more than half of employment by companies.