Ms Laurena Leacy:

I will speak about the stakeholder engagement and not about one company specifically. I do not wish to comment on newspaper reports. I know in her question Senator Boylan mentioned public information, but I do not want to comment on those specific newspaper reports, if that is okay with the committee.

On our stakeholder engagement, we had two information sessions, before and after the Government decision, and there were a series of bilateral meetings between the Department and multiple stakeholders, including companies within the sectors affected by the contribution. These meetings took place from December 2022 up until as recently as February 2023, and there would have been, possibly, around 15 meetings between all the companies, both online and in person.

As part of that engagement, there were also formal submissions made to the Department on the impacts the contribution could have on ongoing viability, future investment, capital investment and serious concerns for the Department to consider as part of the overall collection of the windfall tax but also maintaining security of supply. As the members of the committee are aware, there is an international and domestic energy crisis. The Department considered these submissions. Taking account of the Government's decision in November 22 that the TSC would be a 75% rate applied for 2022 and 2023, losses for previous years would not be carried forward and the Revenue Commissioners would administer the scheme.

Head 4 of the general scheme shows the adjustments that have been made to the definition of taxable profits. In the regulation under Article 15, the TSC relates to taxable profits under national tax rules and under some of the cycles there is guidance around how the there may be adjustments in national law to take account of the full implementation of the solidarity contribution. Under head 4, losses from before 2018 are not deductible and losses after December 2023 can now be carried back and deducted. Group relief was an additional adjustment that was put in. Multiple stakeholders had concerns regarding capital expenditure.

The Department considered the submissions and engagement. In some cases, we requested additional information from the companies in order to better understand these impacts. In putting together the general scheme, we sought to create a balance whereby we would maximise the returns while minimising any potential risk.