Mr. Eamonn O'Dea:

I would not wish to give the impression that our domestic provisions would not have effect. They would, but if any planning arrangement of the sort the Deputy mentions were relying on protection of the treaty, an anti-avoidance provision would have to be put into the treaty to prevent that. If a taxpayer appeals to the provisions of a treaty, he or she can rely on a bilateral agreement effectively to override domestic law on either side. Across our network of treaties, and in some exceptional instances bilaterally, we are putting in anti-avoidance provisions, the principal purpose test, which prevents the treaty being used simply to gain a tax benefit without any underlying substance. If the arrangement the Deputy refers to were relying on a treaty provision for protection that is being addressed now with the multilateral convention and bilateral negotiations. In many instances such arrangements will not be relying on the treaty and can be attacked using a considerable range of domestic anti-avoidance legislation that has been strengthened over recent years.