I propose to take Questions Nos. 213 and 214 together.
There has been increased interest in recent years from civic society groups, the EU and the OECD etc, on how to improve the transparency and tax compliance of multinational companies operating in developing countries, with a particular focus on the extractive industries.
In support of these objectives it has been proposed that multinational enterprises report on a country by country basis their annual financial statements. Recently there has been some agreement at EU level to support the introduction of country by country reporting in the form of the Accounting and Transparency Directives.
Ireland continues to support the ongoing work at EU and OECD level on tax and development issues including work on country by country reporting. In relation to the OECD/IMF/UN report, for such an analysis to be effective it should be carried out at an international level and Ireland stands ready to participate in any such analysis.