Ciarán Cannon (Fine Gael)

I support every aspect of the very convincing points made by Senator Donohoe.

The web of deliberate obfuscation that has been so expertly woven by the Government and its spin masters over recent months was literally torn apart by the Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Patrick Honohan, on the radio this morning. It was refreshing and encouraging to hear such clarity and such honesty in acknowledging that negotiations have effectively begun on the future of the country and how we negotiate through the difficult times ahead.

I ask the Leader to take from me one message only to those negotiations, that the corporation tax rate in this country must be absolutely removed from that negotiation process. I got a call this morning from a good friend of mine who is the global vice-president of a multinational operating here in Ireland. He employs 400 people in this country. As well as managing the daily operations of that company, he has spent the past five years trying to convince that parent company not to take those 400 jobs to other low-cost locations. He called me to plead with the Leader to ensure that the 12.5% rate remains untouched because the locations with which he is competing daily to retain those jobs are the Czech Republic on a 19% corporation tax rate, Poland on 19%, Lithuania on 15% rate and Latvia on 15%. If we even move anywhere close to those rates we are effectively closing the door on foreign direct investment in this country for many years to come. That is the one message I ask the Leader to take to whoever is involved in these negotiations over the days and weeks ahead.