Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I pointed out last night, we are a small peripheral island nation at the edge of Europe for whom remaining competitive is important but can be difficult to do. That is why foreign direct investment in this country is so important. It is responsible for 100,000 jobs and huge investment. As I stated last night, one company alone not only invested €1 billion last year, but has invested €25 billion in our economy over a number of years. It is a vibrant sector of our economy.

The knowledge box is about promoting research and development in Ireland. It is about staying competitive and remaining at the cutting edge. The important thing about our knowledge development box is that it has been approved by the OECD. The OECD is acting on behalf of a number of developed nations like ours to manage the BEPS project on base erosion and profit shifting. It has approved our proposal and concluded that it is not about tax avoidance but rather is something vital and useful to our economy.

The OECD has also pointed out that no country can move on its own to sort out the issues around international tax avoidance. As all countries must move together, there is no point in us turning Ireland into a wasteland for foreign direct investment, FDI. For this reason, some of the remarks that were made in the House last night by members of the Opposition showed a poor understanding of how investment by multinationals can quickly move to other countries if we are seen to be negative towards it. I am supportive of this measure and I hope that it is successful for us.

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