I am almost alone in my party in holding the view that tax harmonisation is not as bad a thing as people seem to think. I am firmly convinced that in a couple of years' time, many of the current applicant states will have corporation tax rates lower than that in Ireland. This process, which has already started, will directly and immediately cause a serious problem in this country. When a workforce that is capable of doing the work that US multinationals currently do here becomes available, such companies will move to the Baltic or elsewhere in eastern Europe. It is in our interest to provide for a minimum level – it does not have to be exactly the same in all member states – of corporation tax throughout the European Union. Such a minimum level may not be any higher than this country's current rate, a situation that would suit us perfectly, but we will have to move in the direction of harmonisation. I do not agree with the blanket refusal to contemplate tax harmonisation as a matter for qualified majority voting.