Mr. Niall Cody:

The Commission is not saying there was not full compliance with Irish tax law. It is saying there was state aid; essentially, that there was an interaction of the tax code, opinion and treaties resulting in state aid. That is the job of the Commission's competition authority. It is entitled to carry out the investigation and form its view. We do not agree with the view but because of EU rules, regardless of whether we are appealing it, we must agree to collect the amount and put this back to the position that would have existed if there was not state aid, according to the Commission. That process has started.

The Minister has indicated the amount will be held in escrow. That is a matter that is still to be finalised and agreed, along with the process of how it is collected. The way corporation tax works, the easiest element is to take the figure of the profits that were not taxed in Ireland and multiply them by 12.5%. That gives a figure. There are other compensating amounts and claims, and as the Commission noted in its decision, depending on what other countries do, that amount might change. The process has started and although good progress has been made, I do not know what will be the final figure. We can rest assured that the figure will be collected, depending on what the process for the collection will be. Ultimately, it will depend on whether it is a tax assessment or another amount.