Patrick Nulty (Dublin West, Independent)
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134. To ask the Minister for Finance in relation to the foreign earnings reduction tax relief scheme, if he will outline the rationale and criteria which were used to select the new countries which will become part of the scheme for 2013 and 2014 that is, Egypt, Algeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1175/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Section 12 of Finance Act 2012 introduced the Foreign Earnings Deduction (FED) which provides for a limited tax deduction for individuals who temporarily carry out the duties of their office or employment in Brazil, Russia, India, China or South Africa. The provision applies as respects the years 2012, 2013 and 2014.

The Department of Agriculture sought the extension of FED for employment related travel to Nigeria, Senegal, Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Tanzania as these countries are currently the most important trading partners for agricultural exports from Ireland and would complement the Government Agri-Food Development Fund for Africa.

The development of export markets is a key economic priority. The reason that FED was introduced was to encourage trade with countries with which Ireland had a low level of exports. In addition, the measure sought to compensate employees for travel to locations which were difficult to access from a distance perspective and due to language barriers. Accordingly, the Minister decided to extend the measure in Finance Act 2013 to include related travel to Egypt, Algeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the 2013 & 2014 tax years.