Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. There are two areas I want to focus on in my supplementary question, first, the tax environment for entrepreneurs, that is, Ireland versus the UK. It is widely accepted by investors that the UK is more competitive than Ireland on taxation incentives for entrepreneurs and attracts more businesses. The UK has a more attractive income tax regime, for example, share option treatment, to attract multinationals and entrepreneurs. That is an issue we have to examine. Capital gains tax incentives for entrepreneurs are also much more favourable in the UK, as the Minister will be aware. For example, the Irish capital gains tax, CGT, rate for entrepreneurs who sell their business is 20%, limited to the first €1 million of gains.

Second, in regard to corporation tax, in budget 2015 the UK Government set a policy objective of reducing it to 18% by 2020 and it has since announced a target of less than 15%, which challenges our corporation tax environment. Given the regime for entrepreneurs and the regime for corporations, what does the Minister believe will be the effect of the reduced corporation tax envisaged in the UK on this country when we are competing for foreign direct investment?

See this speech in context