Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for his comprehensive reply. The strong support for Ireland of the President of the European Council in the Brexit negotiations is welcome. The president stated there could be no backsliding by the United Kingdom on the commitments it gave to Ireland last December, including the backstop option of aligning Northern Ireland with the customs union and the Single Market to avoid a hard border. However, agreement on this in the formulation of a legal text for a protocol to the withdrawal agreement has been pushed back to October. Originally, we were expecting this to be agreed for the June meeting. A transition period has now been agreed and free trade talks are about to commence. As such, is there not a real danger that the Irish question will be sidelined as the deadline for a final agreement looms and after the inevitable late-night political wheeling and dealing takes over, as it always does at European Council meetings? Can the Taoiseach give the House any reassurance in that regard?

Turning to the issue of tax, as the Taoiseach knows, there is a Commission proposal for a 3% turnover tax to be allocated to member states based on how many users of a company's digital service there are in each country. Fianna Fáil's position is that no basic groundwork has been done on this proposal and that a general impact assessment has yet even to commence. While reform is certainly necessary, this must be done on an international basis through the OECD so that EU competitiveness is not weakened. This matter has implications for Ireland, its corporate tax base and its capacity to attract foreign direct investment. However, change is inevitable in this area. Given these developments, are we reviewing our industrial policy, which has been in place since the 1960s? The position in relation to tax rules in the United States of America is a new development also. Many things are happening in this area and I would like to know from the Taoiseach whether we are reviewing our industrial policy, notwithstanding the fact that it has served us well since the 1960s, taking into account these new developments which will be discussed in the coming months?

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