Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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177. To ask the Minister for Finance when EU Directive 2011/16/EU as regards mandatory automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation will be transposed into law; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40045/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The EU Directive 2011/16/EU was transposed into Irish law by virtue of the European Union (Administrative Cooperation in the Field of Taxation) Regulations 2012. 

This Directive has subsequently been amended three times to introduce greater exchange of information between tax authorities. These subsequent Directives will be fully transposed in Ireland by the end of this year. The final steps required to transpose these three Directives will be completed by Finance Bill 2016 and by Regulations amending the European Union (Administrative Cooperation in the Field of Taxation) Regulations 2012 which I intend to issue before the end of the year. 

A further amendment to the Directive was proposed by the European Commission in July 2016 to ensure that tax authorities have access to anti-money laundering information that financial institutions are required to hold. Agreement was reached on this new Directive at the November ECOFIN and transposition of this will take place during 2017.

Ensuring that tax authorities have access to all relevant information is a vital step in combatting tax evasion and aggressive tax planning. I have strongly supported all of these Directives.