Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the Tánaiste's response to this issue. In fairness to his predecessor, Paschal Donohoe acknowledged there was an issue. It was a mistake for the Government to bring forward an amendment to the Finance Bill that included Russia, as Deputies Timmins, Nash, Cian O'Callaghan and I highlighted. As the Tánaiste said, there was unanimity on this issue and it is to be welcomed that Russia is not included.

There is a broader issue with the foreign earnings deduction. It has been expanded repeatedly. I have a map of the world in front of me that is nearly covered in terms of the locations to which the relief applies. There will be a need for a review of how it is working. There are changes in the Finance Bill in terms of the dates on which people must apply and so on. I have acknowledged that there has been a bit of tightening up in respect of issues with the scheme. However, a company does not have to be involved in exports at all to avail of it. If I set up a company in Donegal selling Irish flags but production was based in China and an employee of mine was in China looking at the production of those flags, I could avail of the scheme. That is not what it should be about. The scheme is about opening new markets and assisting companies to access those emerging markets. Further tightening up is needed.

I support the scheme but did not support Russia's inclusion in it. As I said, there is a wider issue in terms of how it has expanded to take in different footprints around the globe. The argument could be made that there is a reason for that but we need an overall look at the scheme with a view to getting back to the fact it is supposed to be export-orientated and supposed to be looking at new markets, but that is not a requirement or condition for application.

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