Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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209. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of inversion transactions undertaken by multinationals in 2014 and 2015 which resulted in their relocation to Ireland; the estimated impact on GDP; the additional corporation tax revenue generated as a result of these transactions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22630/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that, as there is no requirement in Irish tax legislation for a company to notify Revenue that it has been involved in an "inversion" transaction, it is not possible to provide either the number of such transactions in 2014 and 2015 or the details of any additional corporation tax, if any, paid as a result of such transactions.

In relation to any transactions that may not involve real substance in terms of jobs and investment in the Irish economy, Ireland does not encourage such transactions. We only have and want real substantive FDI the kind that brings real jobs and investment into Ireland. My understanding is that these transactions are entirely driven by push, rather than pull, factors, i.e. tax issues in other jurisdictions rather than Ireland.

I instructed my Department to examine whether there are any targeted changes that could be made to the Irish tax regime to discourage this activity. I understand that it may be difficult to design a measure that would not infringe EU law or have potential unintended consequences for substantive Irish operations.

The US Treasury has announced a number of measures that they plan to introduce to reduce the US tax benefits of inverting from the US. The Irish Government has made clear that we would welcome any changes made by the US administration to address this problem.