Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 17 November 2015
Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance
Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage
4:00 pm
Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
The general challenge is that an incentive through the tax code which would be seen to favour either a geographical region or an individual sector would not be automatically given state aid approval. If we do something for the country as a whole, which is in accordance with law and practice, EU treaties and so on, it should not run foul of state aid rules. State aid rules come into play where one sector or a part of one sector is treated more favourably than another for one reason or another. This would also apply to an area of the country or, for instance, an airport west of the Shannon. There are two such airports: Shannon Airport and Ireland West Airport Knock. That would have to be referred-----