We are very pleased to be here today to sign this tax information exchange agreement with the Cayman Islands. The signing of this TIEA is concrete evidence of the significant progress that has been made in recent months.

This agreement will allow the Revenue Commissioners to request information which is relevant to an Irish tax investigation directly from the authorities in the Cayman Islands. Information that would typically be relevant is bank account information and beneficial ownership information for companies and other entities established in the Cayman Islands.

Ireland welcomes the commitment of the Cayman Islands to implement the OECD standards of transparency and exchange of information in tax matters and their willingness to enter into tax information exchange agreements. The signing today of this agreement represents a new chapter in relations between Ireland and the Cayman Islands.

This is Ireland’s fourth TIEA, having recently signed TIEAs with the Isle of Man and with Jersey and Guernsey. We also expect to sign a TIEA with Gibraltar very shortly.

Ireland fully supports the OECD work on transparency and effective exchange of information on tax matters. Ireland has a system of full exchange of information and is fully in compliance with OECD standards.

We agree that all countries and territories that have not yet committed to the OECD standards, including major financial centres should do so.

We also have fifty Double Taxation Agreements (DTAs) in place with other countries. We are currently in negotiations with a number of countries and we would hope to have our network expanded to sixty DTAs by the end of the year.

Ends

23 June, 2009