Ms Josephine Feehily:

It is not that they have to explain; it is just we did not capture the full richness of the data so we were not able to provide the information to the Department of Finance for forecasting purposes. We captured limited data and when the Comptroller and Auditor General's report drew attention to this we committed to capturing the data the following year, which we did, so now we have the data and it is open. Trading losses are a feature of business life. Businesses have losses all of the time. The tax system recognises this for various taxes and it allows businesses to offset losses against subsequent profits in the same trade or business. It is standard. The recognition of losses in the tax system exists throughout the world. All this states is because of the huge changes in the economy in 2008 and 2009 significant losses got onto the balance sheets of big business, in particular financial institutions. These losses are available for offsetting against corporate tax whenever and if ever they return to profitability. Losses are not money we can collect. In financial terms, they are a deferred tax asset. It means when the company comes back into profitability and makes a profit it can offset its losses and pay no tax that year. It is all in the future with regard to financial institutions.