Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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162. To ask the Minister for Finance if the European Commission has requested further information in respect of the investigation being conducted into a company's (details supplied) tax affairs here; if this contradicts his public statement that the investigation was likely to be dropped rather than there being further investigation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43897/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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In June 2014, the European Commission announced their intention to open formal state aid investigations into a number of companies in Member States of the European Union.  This included Ireland's case in respect of the company in question.

At the same time as this announcement, the European Commission sent a letter to Ireland in which they outlined what they see as the basis for opening such an investigation and asking for Ireland's response and clarification.  A non-confidential version of this letter, known as an "Opening Decision" was published by the European Commission at the end of September.

The purpose of this publication is to give interested parties the opportunity to submit comments directly to the European Commission.

Ireland has already issued a formal and confidential response to the Commission's letter, addressing in detail the concerns and some misunderstandings contained in the Opening Decision.  Ireland welcomed that opportunity to clarify important issues about the applicable tax law in this case and to explain that the company concerned did not receive selective treatment and was taxed fully in accordance with the law.

I can confirm that the Commission has not requested any further information from Ireland subsequent to the launch of the formal investigation in June of this year.

It is important to emphasise that the Commission have only opened a formal investigation at this stage; they have not made a final determination on state aid in respect of Ireland.

For state aid to exist in this case, less tax must have been charged to the company than should have been applied under the normal rules of taxation, and this must have distorted competition within the single market.

As I have said previously, Ireland is firmly of the view that there is no state aid in this case and we will continue to defend all aspects of this vigorously.