Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not think the Deputy and I are going to solve this conundrum this evening because we have had this debate several times before. I acknowledge that there are different estimates of what the effective tax rate is in Ireland. We have gone through them on a number of occasions. The most fruitful way to advance this debate is to revert to the Committee Stage debate on the Finance Bill in November 2013., during which the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, agreed that officials of the Department of Finance would prepare a note for the committee. Among those in attendance at the meeting were Deputies Richard Boyd Barrett, Pearse Doherty and Michael McGrath. The purpose of the note is to clarify the issues around the calculation of the effective rate for Ireland, which is exactly the issue we are now debating. Confusion around this topic has led to a number of unhelpful statements being made publicly. The note will include a description of the complications in the calculation of an effective rate of tax for Ireland and explain the bases for calculating the numerous figures quoted internationally and attributed to Ireland, often on an incorrect basis. They will include the 2.2% rate quoted last week by Professor Jim Stewart and the 6.8% rate implicit in the EUROSTAT figures. The note will also explain the 10.5% rate indicated in the data published by the Revenue Commissioners and the 14.4% rate quoted by the European Commission for Ireland. Work in this regard is ongoing and the note is due to be presented to the committee by the end of March and likely to be published. We will talk about this issue further in committee when we will have a properly researched basis for our discussion.

See this speech in context