Mr. Sorley McCaughey:

I would concur with some of that. There are more fundamental changes that are required rather than merely what was at the time a degree of not playing to the gallery but addressing a reputational issue. What this has highlighted is the lack of transparency and opacity that multinational corporations depend on to operate cross border. That is a fundamental issue that, unfortunately, lies outside of the terms of reference of this committee but is at the heart of how multinational corporations manage to engage in this kind of activity.

We do not have a full picture of what activities multinationals are engaged in. We only have a very small part of the picture in Ireland. We do not know what their activities are in jurisdictions elsewhere. How do we know that the amount of money that is coming into Ireland is the correct amount if we do not know what they are doing in country X, Y or Z. Country X, Y or Z may include a tax haven, and then the trail goes cold and one does not have any information about that company to take an informed position on whether or not the activities of that corporation are legitimate.