Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What were issued in 1991 and 2007 were opinions. There is no suggestion of any political input into those decisions by the Government of the day. The Revenue Commissioners are independent and they decided on independent grounds that this was the position. An opinion arises when a company looks for advice on what the tax situation is. A company is coming into a country and wants to know what its tax liabilities are and it looks for advice from the Revenue as to what the law is. It is not a deal, it is the giving of an opinion on what the law is. That is what was done. In respect of it being state aid, the Deputy's question prompts me to come to one of the essential elements of the appeal which is as follows. The criteria against which we are now being measured were developed by the OECD and enshrined in Irish law in 2010. It is like being penalised for something one did in 2000 when it did not become an offence for another ten years. That is the aspect of the retrospective nature which is going to be under appeal. It is not that Revenue does not collect tax retrospectively, it is that we are being found guilty of an offence which was not an offence at the time. The state aid issue would not have arisen-----

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