Addressing the European Parliament’s Pana committee on tax avoidance and evasion, he said the State was one of the first to introduce “country by country” reporting to tax authorities under which multinationals must set out their range of operations abroad to national authorities.

He said he supports commission proposals to extend such rules and added that “Ireland is a strong supporter of the work done in recent years to increase the exchange of information between tax authorities”.

He pointed to the nearly 2,500 taxpayers who recently contacted Revenue to declare “offshore arrangements” covering up to €70 million of their income, ahead of a promised crackdown on the back of such shared information.

Tax haven

Many MEPs regard Ireland as a tax haven and the Minister’s speech was a determined attempt to persuade parliament that, whatever about the past – and, he stressed Ireland was not implicated in the Panama Papers revelation which the Pana committee is currently reviewing – Ireland is now one of the “good guys”.

“To encourage taxpayers who may have used offshore arrangements in the past to come forward,” he said, “taxpayers were given until May 4th, 2017, to make disclosures under the voluntary disclosure regime.

“Those who failed to come forward by that date face greater penalties, publication of their names and possible prosecution. I am advised that the number of disclosures made before May 4th exceeds 2,500, with a value of more than €70 million. “

“We remain convinced that consistent global action is the best way to achieve a fair and transparent global tax system.”

Ireland is also currently transposing anti-money laundering legislation and will establish a central registers of beneficial ownership information for both companies and trusts as provided for under the directive. Like other member states, however, it opposes MEP demands for open public registers, or public “country by country” reporting obligations.

Action plan

Mr Donohoe also attended a meeting of EU finance ministers which endorsed an action plan on non-performing banking loans and the 28 sets of country-specific recommendations that are the final stage of the 2017 “European Semester”, an annual policy monitoring/co-ordination process.

The specific Irish recommendations, which closely mirror those of the post-bailout monitoring team approved on Monday by the Eurogroup, again reiterated the need to use windfall exchequer gains from either the sale of AIB or in corporate tax receipts to pay down debt.

But the report also emphasised the need to prioritise infrastructure spending.

Ministers also discussed commission proposals to make tax consultants and accountants liable for reporting to the authorities clients’ tax plans that may involve significant avoidance measures, and backed a renewed commitment to completing the capital markets union by the end of 2019.

The action plan, launched in 2015, has seen nearly two-thirds of actions already delivered. The priorities are to strengthen capital markets so as to attract more investment for European companies and infrastructure projects; and improve access to finance in particular for European SMEs and start-ups.

Building 1 will extend to about 9,300sq m (100,000sq ft) of lettable space together with a remarkable 156 basement car spaces after excavating a double level basement car park as part of the Block H project. The next building will be available to let in its entirety or floor by floor when it is completed in Q4 of 2018.

Significantly, Building 1 will be developed with column-free floor plates extending to 1,230sq m (13,200sq ft) – the first such configuration in a Dublin suburban office development. The layout will also include a number of staff facilities such as dedicated shower rooms and bike storage, as well as large terraces on the penthouse floor offering superb views across the Dublin Mountains.

Central Park is now well established as Dublin’s leading office park, with full occupancy through the 79,000sq m (850,000sq ft) of built space and a total contracted rent of €23.7 million per annum.

Once Building 1 is completed towards the end of 2018, the remaining 4.5 acres at Central Park will provide further scope for development. Planning consents are already in place for a minimum additional development of 28,000sq m (300,000sq ft).

Paul Culhane, development director of Green Property Reit Ventures, said they were pleased to begin constructing their next office building in what was widely acknowledged as Dublin’s premier office park. He said the company looked forward to adding to the list of blue chip tenants in the park, which include AIB, Ulster Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch,Vodafone and Salesforce.

Green Reit is also currently developing an additional office building at 5 Harcourt Road in Dublin 2. The 4,645sq m (50,000sq ft) block will have eight impressive floors, with a typical floor extending to 743sq m (8,000sq ft). The building will be available as a standalone headquarters or on a floor-by-floor basis when it is completed in Q1 of 2018.

The picture was the same across Europe where the Stoxx Europe 600 index fell by 0.65 per cent on a day when the Euro hit an eight-month high against Sterling.

Dublin

It was speculative news surrounding an email chain between US president Donald Trump’s son and Russian officials that caused companies in the infrastructure business to drop on Tuesday, according to brokers. Ireland’s biggest company CRH dipped by 1.27 per cent to close at €31.02 while Kingspan’s less significant drop of 0.24 per cent allowed it to close at €29.58.

Housebuilder Grafton Group had a positive day after a trading statement said that trading had been better than expected. It edged up as much as 5 per cent but dropped later in the day after being dragged down by UK housebuilders. It ultimately finished up by 1.48 per cent.

Bookmakers were on the move today and, in line with the general trend, closed lower. From an Irish point of view Paddy Power Betfair closed down 2.19 per cent, below the €90 mark, after a UK broker cut their rating on the stock saying they weren’t expecting an upbeat management tone when the group announces its results.

It was Bank of Ireland’s second trading day after it was consolidated so that it was no longer trading as a penny stock. After having a relatively good run over the past two weeks the stock gave up some of its gains and closed down by 2.04 per cent at €7.249.

London

Britain’s top share index retreated on Tuesday as falls in defensive stocks as well as Pearson and Marks & Spencer overshadowed gains in miners.

Defensive firms and dollar earners were among the biggest weights on the index. They included Vodafone, British American Tobacco, AstraZeneca and Diageo.

Education publisher Pearson was the biggest faller, down more than 5 per cent and giving up early gains after agreeing to sell a 22 per cent stake in book publisher Penguin Random House for around $1 billion in a bid to boost its balance sheet and return cash to shareholders.

Among mid-caps, construction company Carillion continued to suffer fallout after its chief executive stepped down amidst a full-year profit warning on Monday. It sank another 33.5 per cent.

Europe

European shares ended Tuesday on the backfoot as losses among defensive consumer staples and real estate stocks outweighed strength in autos and miners.

Broker notes spurred some of the biggest individual moves, with semiconductor maker AMS a top gainer after Credit Suisse upped its target price.

Peer STMicro – a supplier to tech giant Apple – received a boost after JP Morgan raised it to “overweight”, though it ended the session 0.4 per cent lower.

Randstad and Adecco both fell more than 2 per cent, targeted by Deutsche Bank in a note on staffing firms. Analysts at Deutsche cut ratings for the world’s two largest staffing companies, saying current employment levels in the United States and Europe were associated with peaking 12-month investor returns. British recruitment firm Hays followed its European peers down 1.6 per cent.

New York

US stocks swung lower on Tuesday after President Trump’s son released an email chain.

Investors will be looking at second-quarter earnings reports on Friday from big US banks including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup.

Snap shares fell on Tuesday, after lead underwriter Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock.

Shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals soared after the drug developer said on Monday its experimental drug for a rare but deadly lung disease met the main goal in a mid-stage study.

Construction is still concentrated in various pockets south of the Liffey – Ballsbridge, the docklands and Molesworth Street – where there were 57 cranes (down one from a month ago). Twelve cranes were visible north of the Liffey, the same as in June.

It seems, however, that the construction surge is spreading further out from the city centre. Eleven cranes, not included in the survey total above, are visible over Dún Laoghaire.

A number of mainly residential schemes, like those at Callaghan’s Lane and Marine Walk close to the Royal Marine Hotel, are under construction, as is the refurbishment of an office scheme on George’s Street Upper.

The main concentration of cranes is at the large Cualanor scheme on the site of the former golf club, where Cosgraves is building about 900 homes. Nearby at Fitzgerald Park off Lower Mounttown Road in Monkstown Farm, a 50-unit social housing scheme is also under way.

With the Irish economy expected to continue its recovery and a number of significant developments due to enter the construction phase shortly, it is likely the number of cranes on Dublin’s skyline will increase.

We will continue to conduct a crane survey once a month to track construction levels in the city centre.

Leopardstown Club Limited (LCL) appealed to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal overturned a High Court decision rejecting claims by Mr Smyth and Templeville Developments Ltd, which operates the Westwood sports club at Leopardstown, that they were entitled to rescind the mediation agreement on grounds of alleged misrepresentation.

Templeville and Mr Smyth alleged LCL misrepresented a site running through seven new tennis courts was not materially affected by an underground ESB cable. LCL denied misrepresentation, alleged Mr Smyth had deliberately “stacked up” grievances to breach the mediated settlement and argued that Templeville and Mr Smyth were aware over years of two underground ESB cables.

Michael McDowell SC, for LCL, argued there was “a great big manhole” in the middle of the relevant site marked with “ESB”, plus two other marked manholes.

The High Court had found it was “impossible” not to be satisfied Templeville had knowledge of the transverse ESB cable and that Mr Smyth’s claim of no knowledge of that cable was not believable.

In its 2015 judgments granting an appeal by Templeville and Mr Smyth over the High Court findings, the Court of Appeal found the High Court conclusion that the appellants had knowledge in 2007/08 of two ESB cables was not supported by the evidence.

‘Unless’

LCL appealed to the Supreme Court and five judges on Tuesday unanimously allowed the appeal after finding the Court of Appeal exceeded its jurisdiction. It also made “unless” costs orders, meaning Templeville and Mr Smyth must pay the substantial legal costs of the case unless they indicate by next Tuesday a basis for opposing this. costs. If they do, the court will decide the costs issue later.

The core issue in the appeal was whether the Court of Appeal exceeded its jurisdiction and misapplied a rule under which appellant courts are bound by a trial judge’s findings of fact if those findings are supported by credible evidence.

Giving the court’s principal judgment, the Chief Justice, Ms Justice Susan Denham, found the appeal court had misapplied the relevant rule. Because there was evidence to support the High Court’s finding certain evidence given by Mr Smyth was not credible, that finding could not be set aside by the Court of Appeal, she held.

Templeville, of which Mr Smyth is principal shareholder and a director, had secured a new lease agreement from LCL in 1998 covering some of the lands and racecourse premises and, under that and various agreements, built Westwood club and 11 tennis courts.

The Supreme Court noted the relationship between the parties had nearly always been “strained and fractious” and, arising from several major items of actual or threatened litigation, they entered a mediation process in 2011 leading to a written Mediation Settlement Agreement (MSA), including maps and providing for Templeville to make payments to LCL.

While an initial payment was made, relations between the sides had deteriorated by 2012 with both alleging breaches of the MSA. LCL took proceedings in 2012 for a declaration the MSA remained in full force while Templeville and Mr Smyth argued it was voidable for mistake and alleged misrepresentation.