Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy asked a two-sided question, which I answered. If the Deputy wants to change his questions, he has a right to do so. I welcome the move by Northern Ireland to have a low corporate tax rate. I think it will benefit both parts of the island. We stand to gain from a more competitive offering in Northern Ireland. Of course, we will face competition for mobile projects but that has always been a feature. We have faced competition from the UK, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg all of the time. The record will show that we are doing well in any competitive assessment of how we fare in winning investment.

There is no doubt that the UK has offered a tax environment that is favourable to start-ups. As the Deputy will see, this year, the Minister for Finance received a discussion paper on entrepreneurship and the tax code. In response to that, he has started a process of reform. This year, he reduced capital gains tax for entrepreneurs as well as making other changes such as those for the self-employed.

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