Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have already done that. As the Deputy will be aware, a review of the Irish corporate tax system was undertaken by Mr. Seamus Coffey, an independent expert, and was published in 2017. It was open, the public were able to make submissions to it, as were stakeholders, and the report was made public and published on the Department of Finance website. The terms of reference for that review included some of the issues touched on by the Deputy, such as tax transparency, avoiding preferential treatment, further implementing our international commitments, delivering tax certainty, maintaining competitiveness and maintaining the 12.5% corporation tax rate.

As part of an ongoing process of corporation tax reform, the review was followed by a public consultation on the review's recommendations and on the implementation of the anti-tax avoidance directive, ATAD. Implementation of the measures agreed at EU level under ATAD include the introduction of controlled foreign corporation rules, anti-hybrid rules, a new interest limitation ratio, the revision of exit tax provisions and a review of the general anti-abuse rule. This is a very significant undertaking which will substantially transform the corporate tax system over the coming years.

In regard to tax reliefs, we have a small number of specifically targeted tax reliefs. The focus of these reliefs is on the creation of additional employment, as is consistent with current Government policy, and on innovation, with a view to generating high value-added economic activity and further jobs in our country.

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