Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I would like to explore a little the rationale that the Minister is giving for the decision that was made by the previous Minister for Finance in 2014. The Minister for Finance now says that it was purely based on the information that we had at the time, the situation in terms of the tax regimes of competing countries and so forth. He is saying that it had nothing to do with the fact that this was when the pressure was mounting and the Government was forced to end, or at least wind down, the double Irish regime. He is claiming that it is purely a coincidence that the Government announced the ending, or winding down over an extended period, of the Double Irish at the same time as opening up that tax loophole. It seems to me to be quite an extraordinary coincidence that one tax avoidance opportunity would be closed and another one would open up, without any relationship. Of course, the same budget marked the beginning of the so-called knowledge development box.

Is the Minister saying that if he had the information that was available to the former Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, he would make the same decision? If the Minister had the information that he has now about the situation that pertained then, would he also have made the same decision?

Does the Minister have any estimate of the amount of revenue lost by the change implemented in budget 2015 and the cost to the Exchequer in terms of the increase in payments to the EU?

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