Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 December 2015
155. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the effect, in percentage and absolute terms, on the investment component of gross domestic product and the knock-on effect on gross domestic product if the largest single transaction related to intellectual property by a multinational was excluded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43791/15]
View answerI am informed by the CSO that a large factor behind the increase in investment in the second quarter national accounts this year related to a large acquisition of an intellectual property. However it is important to note that where transactions occur in intellectual property in a particular period, in general the impact on GDP is zero. This is because in the national accounts these investment transactions give rise to an increase in investment, which adds to GDP, as well as an offsetting increase in imports. In contrast, R&D created solely in Ireland will add to GDP in the same period. Of course, acquired intellectual property assets are expected to generate future income streams and increase GDP into the future. In Ireland because of the substantial presence of Multi-National Corporations, transactions of this nature in intellectual property occur frequently enough. It is important to stress that the contribution of this intellectual property transaction to overall investment or imports in the second quarter cannot be calculated with precision with publicly available data. The Deputy will be aware that due to confidentiality reasons the CSO are not in a position to comment on firm specific developments. In fact, the Statistics Act 1993 restricts the use of information supplied to the CSO solely to statistical purposes and prohibits identifying the undertakings which supply this information.
