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

Ireland can only tax income that is taxable. We can only tax income declared in Ireland. Deputies Boyd Barrett and Martin Kenny are correct that reliefs are available. They are applied and the income thereafter is what is taxed, but that is a feature of tax codes, whether for an individual, an SME or a major multinational company. Indicating we will change that in the future is the very kind of unpredictability in our tax code that will affect jobs and investment in our country. Every time I make such a point, I am charged by some with creating a sense of fear and undue panic. All I can do is give my view of how competitive the international environment is for jobs and investment. It is not a path of uncertainty that Ireland should go down.

I again point to the fact that the gap between the effective tax rate and the nominal tax rate in respect of Ireland's corporation tax is small. That shows that an approach of having a wide tax base, with a small number of reliefs and a consistent rate applying to the entire tax base is the right way to go.

On what Deputy Kenny said about the deficit, since 2016, we have increased by €4 billion the amount of investment in our economy, with a significant focus of that sum being the investment in towns and villages throughout the country, an approach with which we will continue.

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