The story goes that there was a slightly inebriated person found under the light of street lamp searching for something.

The economy grew by 4.2% at the tail end of the summer, official figures have revealed.

Ireland is losing out on billions of euro every year because eight of the 100 most lucrative Irish-based multinationals pay no corporation tax and five more have a tax bill of less than 1%.

US multinationals shifted $100bn (€88bn) in income to Ireland in a single year, in order to lower their tax bills, a new study shows.

The European Commission may not announce its ruling on Ireland and its tax dealings with Apple until after Christmas, Finance Minister Michael Noonan said yesterday.

The European Union’s 28 finance ministers have agreed to share details of tax deals their countries reach with big multinational companies in a move they hope will clamp down on aggressive tax avoidance.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan said Ireland has little to fear from attempts by the world’s richest countries to get multinationals to pay more tax, reiterating that the country’s headline 12.5% rate is not under threat.

Multinationals will no longer be able to avoid paying tax by playing one country off another, under new rules drafted by the European Commission.

IDA Ireland is targeting another 80,000 jobs, to be created by overseas multinationals, between now and 2020; forming a boost to inward foreign direct investment of over 40% during the five-year period.