Tax Research Program To Help Irish Policy Makers

The Irish Finance Department and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) are to jointly run a two-year research program covering macroeconomic and tax policy issues.

Under an agreement signed by the Department and ESRI, researchers from the Institute will work alongside officials from the Department on various research projects. The collaboration was previously announced by Finance Minister Michael Noonan at the Department’s October 2014 conference on International Taxation and Economic Growth.

According to Derek Moran, Secretary General of the Finance Department, the research program will help ensure that policy advice to the Minister and the Government “continues to be informed by high-quality economic analysis and evidence.” Tax-related topics are likely to include aspects of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) initiative.