Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have broken that down by state and are trying to break it down by district. We need to make the point more strongly in our visits to the United States, that trade, investment and jobs, go both ways and make everyone better off in the round especially because the climate in the United States is different now, people are more sceptical about the benefits of global free trade.

US tax policy is a matter for them. It is not a matter for us to tell other countries what their tax policy should be but we do monitor it very closely. If the United States wants to follow our lead and reduce corporation profit taxes, that is a matter for it. That is a decision for it. If it wants to bring in a mechanism that allows profits to be repatriated to the United States we would welcome that. We are often told that there are trillions of dollars in Europe that have been already taxed but are sitting there and have not been repatriated to the United States because of the high taxes there. Some of that money is in Ireland and we have no difficulty about its being repatriated to the United States. It is a matter for it to change its tax laws to allow that happen.

We are very straight on our own tax policy: there is a rumour going around America that Ireland will reduce its corporation profit tax. We assure it that is not the case. It will stay at 12.5% with the research and development exemption and the knowledge development box. It will not go up or down.

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