Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for the questions. I will deal with each of them in turn. On the role of private savings within our economy, it is the case that those private savings are playing a role in the purchase of homes and decisions around the purchase of large items. We may well see that come through in, for example, the VAT returns and the figures we have in regard to the purchase of vehicles. Overall, private savings are playing a big role in the successful reopening of our domestic economy. One of the reasons we are seeing a rapid fall in the pandemic unemployment payment is the reopening more quickly of domestic enterprises, with a higher level of demand than they may have anticipated. Private savings are clearly playing a role in driving that consumption. There is benefit in the ability of those savings to play a role in the growth of domestic economy, which would not be as touched by the very large multinational presence we have here, but we need to be alert to what this could mean for inflationary trends in the future and to monitor that carefully.

On corporate tax receipts, the monitoring and modelling that we have done of corporate tax receipts points to, over time, a loss of up to €2 billion in annual corporate tax revenue. It is worth saying that for some years that might not result in a direct fall, but in the rate of growth being less than that which has happened in our recent history. This is the reason it is so important we reduce our reliance on borrowing to fund day-to-day spending and get to a point where the taxes we are collecting are paying for the public services we have at the moment. It is also the reason changes in carbon tax, which are difficult and I know can be a cause of challenge for many, are still so important in broadening our tax base. I believe that even with the change that may happen with our corporate tax revenue, we have the ability to get the health of our public finances to a safer place, particularly over the next two years. I remain confident that the Irish economy will be competitive, resilient and able to retain and grow jobs into the future.