In January 2017, the Knowledge Development Box Bill 2016 returned to the Seanad.
Following pressure from me at Committee Stage the Minister agreed to publish an annual report on outcomes of the measures implemented under the bill. However, I was disappointed that the Minister would not commit to providing the level of information we need to adequately scrutinise this measure. I was also disappointed that both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael voted against my amendments for Revenue to exchange information with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation around the cost to the exchequer of the measure and the tax forgone. My 'join the dots' amendment which proposed to track whether the Knowledge Development Box is linking up effectively with our wider innovation and employment strategy was also defeated.
A Cross-party group of Senators and TDs wrote to Facebook Ireland to request that the social media platform roll-out their new transparency features in Ireland in advance of the referendum on the 8th amendment on May 25th.