US tax plan could still prove to be Ireland’s undoing

Pushing my way through the lobby of Google’s European headquarters in Dublin, for an evening meeting, against a hoard of techies from 60 countries exiting the building, was proof enough that there was unlikely to be any sudden change in the status of Ireland as a location for US corporations, writes John Whelan.

That is not to say that back at global headquarters in San Francisco, Google is not anxiously watching the final twists and turns on Capitol Hill as the two houses of the US parliament struggle to finalise the most comprehensive overhaul of the tax system in decades.

Of particular concern is the move by a growing group of senators to cut sharply the value of business tax credits associated with R&D, intellectual property and capital expenditure.