Dr. Sheila Killian:

It is less BEPS than the involvement of developing countries in the development of BEPS, which has been problematic. BEPS is developed by the OECD and the G20, which involve a relatively small subset of the countries in the world. It gave developing countries and the UN observer status. It is very common for there to be criticisms on why it is not particularly democratic in its involvement and then perhaps not fit for the variable geometry that is needed for developing countries. It is quite rigid.

On the second comment that was made, namely, that this is where Ireland finds a defence against accusations or allegations made about our tax system. That is a very important point because we have leaned on BEPS and our participation in it in order to say that we are best in class. By doing an updated and better spillover analysis, there is an opportunity to really be best in class. There are opportunities here. This presents a massive opportunity for the Government - spanning the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Finance - to produce a really solid spillover analysis that takes in all of those elements, including political economy, and that allows an economic, social and human rights analysis of the impact of double tax treaties that we sign. There is a chance to do that and it would strengthen our case under the SDGs. It would also mean that we would be less vulnerable to the accusation of simply hiding behind BEPS. Reputationally, this is quite a critical juncture for Ireland because the US, in its relations with the world in general, is perhaps less predictable than it has been in past. We are very heavily dependent on US foreign direct investment so it is a very good time for us to be putting a second string to our bow and underpinning our position as best in class.