Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Over the past month we have all sympathised with those affected and condemned the attacks in Orlando, where 49 people were shot dead, and today we have had a minutes’ silence for the 157 people who were ruthlessly and needlessly murdered by suicide bombers in a truck on a busy commercial street in Baghdad a couple of days ago. There are still 12 people missing and many more on the critical list. Can the Taoiseach indicate whether the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade is in a position to allocate additional funding from our aid programme to non-governmental organisations providing humanitarian assistance to the communities there, and whether a supplementary Estimate is required? We have all been struck by the scale and randomness of attacks across the globe by ISIS and other extremist terrorist organisations, which are taking an enormous toll on human life. We need to be mindful of that with our European Union colleagues. I know the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality is.

The latest announcement by the United Kingdom that it plans to reduce its corporation tax rate to 15% has implications for Ireland and for the ongoing competition to attract foreign direct investment. Up to 187,000 people work in companies assisted by IDA Ireland. I understand that the knowledge box proposal is before the European Commission. It is interesting that Britain forged ahead with a knowledge box some years ago without the Commission’s approval and that was being considered. In light of the competition that is about to develop, can the Taoiseach indicate where we are in respect of our proposals to develop a knowledge box and to create an incentivised tax framework for attracting research and development activities to the country? The Minister for Finance would have known about this some time ago in previous budgets.

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