Mr. Conor O'Brien:

As stated, the United Kingdom has become a serious competitive threat and projects which might previously have come to Ireland are now going there. That said, however, the Irish system remains attractive. A consultation process took place in respect of the special assignee relief programme, SARP, and the foreign earnings deduction, as part of which we submitted a paper. Essentially, the SARP is the tax system which governs those from abroad who come to work here. We regard it as uncompetitive and are aware of projects that were lost to Ireland as a result. In 2006, without consultation, what had previously been an attractive tax regime for foreigners working here - it had been in place since 1922 and was advertised by IDA Ireland and others as part of our offering to international business - was removed at the stroke of a pen. I will not go into detail, but there were good reasons some reforms were needed at the time. We do not really provide a competitive offering for foreign workers in coming here, whereas many other countries do. If I was asked to identify one area in which we could do better, this is the one I would highlight.