Mr. Colm Markey:

I will start by addressing the trans-border tax scenario. We ran a webinar in the early summer on remote working. We worked closely with Grow Remote, which is a wonderful Irish organisation that is in 16 countries at this stage. One of the key issues it identified was that 55,000 jobs across Europe were available remotely. Anyone from anywhere could take up one of those jobs. The question was what was their status in terms of paying tax. Did they pay tax in the country they worked in or in the country where the company was based? Multiple issues arise about tax in a remote working scenario in a European context. That is something we identified, as have some of the organisations we have been dealing with. There is a lot more work needed and we must look into this space in greater detail.

As regards ALMA, Erasmus Plus is available across the Border and although, to be honest, I do not know, my understanding is that it would be available on the same basis. On the digital Covid certificate, at the time it was created, the offer was there at European level that it could be for more than just Europe but others did not take it up. That has led to some of the concerns that exist. It leads to a broader debate. It is not just about Covid certificates. It is about the status people have with Irish citizenship who are not necessarily resident in a country. I have a brother living in Spain who debates this with me every Christmas when he comes home. It is very important that we look at the broader picture. In other ways, it is an island-of-Ireland debate and we must look at how we can build consensus on wherever we are going in terms of an outcome that allows everybody to be part of something without being forced into it, and allows everybody's difference to be recognised as well. That is not being done at the moment in terms of what Senator Currie has suggested, and that is the spirit in which we need to engage with it.