Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for that reply. I have some appreciation of the situation he is in and I genuinely believe he believes the decision at this stage not to sign up formally to pillar 2 of the process is, as he sees it, in the national interest. We have two different, competing perspectives in terms of what the national interest is. That is informed, I believe, by our different political and economic philosophies and traditions, and I respect and fully understand that.

During our consultation process internally in our own organisation and with academics, business leaders and others, we became convinced that Ireland can live with a marginally higher rate of corporation tax. We are convinced of that and persuaded of that. This is not 1997, when it was first announced by my colleague, the then Minister for Finance, Ruairí Quinn. It is not 2007 either. It is 2021. I think we are in a good position to trade on our strengths, our skills, our productivity and our competitiveness, and not necessarily any longer with a disproportionate focus on what is, by any objective stretch of the imagination, a low rate of corporation tax. I hope the Minister is reassured by remarks made, for example, today, by people like Feargal O’Rourke that we do not have anything to fear in terms of the continued pipeline of investment into Ireland because of our attractiveness as a destination for multinational corporations.

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