Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 2 July 2015
Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis
Nexus Phase
Mr. Brian Cowen:
Sorry, Deputy, I want to explain. I do need time to explain this, you know, and there's no problem explaining it, if you just hear what I have to say. The reports are very clear. One recommendation ... one of the economic consultants says that you should, as part of getting rid of them, the existing ... I'm talking about pipeline projects only, not new projects, ones that are up and running where you have reasonable foreseeability rules in place regarding taxes ... tax law and all the rest of it. One of them was saying you extend that out for five years and just give 50% relief for these pipeline projects. There was another report saying no, you ... on other reliefs, saying you keep it going at 100% for 17 months beyond the date. So what you have to do is, where you have pipeline projects, what do you do to taper this out in a way that won't have an unforeseen consequence, and have some reference to the employment-----