Mr. Bert Zuijdendorp:

Not for the reason of reducing the tax burden on its profits. If it wished to reduce that burden, it would have to move its assets or staff - moving customers would be more difficult - to a particular member state. If a company invested in research and development in Ireland, that would increase the payroll factor and Ireland would get a larger share, which would be taxed at 12.5% or whatever rate Ireland chose to apply.