Mr. Niall Cody:

Again, I do not want to put forward any kind of figure because if I suggest a figure, that then becomes the figure. The Minister has been consistent in talking about the risks around corporation tax and the concentration. There is even the idea that, in 2019, the top ten paid 40% and, last year, that had gone up to 56%. The year before was the first year that the top ten paid over 50% and up to that year, for a long time, it was probably consistently between 37% and 43%, and then 2020 was the first time it was over 50%. Some of that was impacted by the pandemic because a lot of other businesses were suppressed, so there was a kind of natural suppression across the broad swathe, whereas some of the large companies, whether in pharma or IT, probably had a very good pandemic, so that probably impacted as well. The level of growth in corporation tax receipts this year means it is now well surpassing VAT as the second-largest, and that is the first time that has happened. November just gone had the largest tax receipts for any month in the history of the State at €13.3 billion, and €5.5 billion of that was corporation tax.

On one level, it is a great problem to have and, certainly, in any discussion I have about this, it is very positive that we have such healthy tax receipts. This year, we will collect well over €100 billion gross, the first time we have collected over €100 billion. There are challenges and risks and we have to be careful, but when it comes to our organisation, our role is very clear, and that is to collect, as we hope, the right tax at the right time from the right people.