Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 May 2014
139. Deputy Jim Daly asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider sponsoring a review of Ireland's competitiveness for attracting inward investment and research and development, noting in particular the increased competition and suite of tax incentives being offered by the United Kingdom with the patent box and overhauled corporate tax rates; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22954/14]
View answerThe Deputy will be pleased to know that the competitiveness of Ireland's regime for Research and Development ('R&D') was a key focus of the review of the R&D Tax Credit that I commissioned in 2013. A whole chapter of this report was devoted to an international comparison of the regime with that in place in other countries, and the full results of the review can be viewed on my Department's website at http://budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2014/Documents/Department%20of%20Finance%20Review%20of%20R&D%20Tax%20Credit%202013.pdf.
I am confident that the Deputy will be comforted by the fact that this review concluded that Ireland's regime is among the 'best in class' internationally. The Review recommended that we make some modest enhancements to improve the tax credit even further the Government implemented in Finance Act (No.2) 2013 in December past. More broadly, my Department is very conscious of the need to maintain a competitive corporate tax regime and to that end, closely monitors developments in other countries. However, it is not appropriate to single out any particular country or corporate tax system and comment on them in this way.
The changes that I have introduced in recent budgets and Finance Acts highlight the on-going work by my Department to make sure that the Irish corporate tax offering stays competitive as we work to attract investment and jobs to Ireland. For example, we have further enhancements to the R&D regime, introduced a tax regime for Real Estate Investment Trusts and the package of measures to assist the SME sector (among others). For further information on our regime, I would refer the Deputy to the literature on the Budget Website which is available at http://www.budget.gov.ie.
