Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy asked about a savage austerity attack in Northern Ireland, an area of high unemployment. Since the Troubles, the public sector has pumped money into Northern Ireland because of the high rates of unemployment arising from the Troubles. The best answer to that problem is the creation of jobs, which means investing to make the place attractive to foreign direct investment and give business the opportunity to thrive. Exports can add value, create jobs and promote prosperity in Northern Ireland. That is why a number of personnel from Northern Ireland were based in Brussels during the Irish Presidency in order to become fully acquainted with the issues being discussed and bring them to the attention of officials and the Executive in Northern Ireland. The reason the Irish and British Governments were asked to assist in Northern Ireland was the parties were having difficulties in agreeing a range of measures to deal with the past, including flags, parades and other legacy issues.

The budgetary situation, on the other hand, was one for the Executive and the parties elected to the Assembly to make decisions on. In accepting the budgetary allocation from the British Government, difficult choices sometimes had to be made as to how it should be spent. For our part, we continued to say we would provide Stg£50 million in two tranches for the A5 to the north west. I understand there are some legal challenges in that context, but the money is in place from our point of view. We also made provision for radiotherapy facilities at Altnagelvin and a range of other cross-Border activities in the areas of tourism, education, business and so on.

Our State has had a corporation tax rate of 12.5% for many years and it is not changing. It will not go up and it will not go down. Corporation tax and taxes in general are matters of national competence under the treaties of the European Union and any country is entitled to change its tax rates. An issue was raised by political representatives in Northern Ireland who said they should be allowed to decide to reduce the level of corporate tax applying there. The Chancellor of the Exchequer agreed and a commitment was given by the British Government which is being implemented. If it applies from 2017, there will be a loss to the Northern Ireland economy depending on the rate that is struck and a question will arise as to how it will be made up. That is a matter for the elected representatives in Northern Ireland. I have said on many occasions that I would welcome whatever decision they make. If it approaches closer to the 12.5% tax rate we have here, it will make it easier to promote the country as being a lower tax area from a corporate tax point of view for foreign direct investment. I hope that we can continue to promote the island of Ireland in that sense. Deputy Joe Higgins links that to welfare reform. The answer has to be that when one makes the structural changes, one makes one's economy and country more attractive to business and investment from outside. One also makes it easier to set up businesses, create added value and export it where possible and create jobs and opportunities. That is beginning to happen, which is why I like to see the strong promotion of Northern Ireland that is taking place.

Many of these issues cross all political divides. I was able to attend with the First Minister and Deputy First Minister at the Royal School in Armagh to make the island of Ireland bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup, which I believe we will win. There will be a very strong national response to it. The First and Deputy First Ministers and people from across the divides were very amenable to that in terms of what it can bring and in terms of the reputation of the country. The Gaelic Athletic Association here made the decision in less than two minutes to provide appropriate stadia around the country if Ireland succeeds in its bid. With the world's No. 1 golfer being from Northern Ireland, the Irish Open this year in County Down will attract enormous worldwide attention. We will be very strong in promoting the country as a place to visit and invest in.

The Deputy mentioned Switzerland, Luxembourg and tax positions. We are very clear where we stand on this. We defend our position very strongly. The European Commission is examining all countries at the moment. I hope that its analysis and decisions are arrived at expeditiously. We have a very clear view that there has been no State aid involvement or special deals done for any company. We will defend that record very strongly going back over many Governments and years. Switzerland's central bank made a decision to revalue by 20%, which had an immediate impact in terms of business and attractiveness for continued investment. That is a matter for the Government in Switzerland to deal with. Clearly, the situation is one in which we participate. We got rid of the stateless concept and the double Irish concept. We are very supportive of the OECD in the BEPS analysis that is ongoing. We want to be able to stand out front and say that we are introducing our information box and a competitive rate. We will be very fair and hard and play to win for our country because jobs are the opportunity to get away from welfare dependency. Jobs allow people to have the benefits of an economy that is thriving in which prosperity can happen.

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