Quantitative easing will dominate the news emanating from the World Economic Forum in Davos today; German chancellor Angela Merkel is due to take the stage within minutes of the expected announcement by Mario Draghi that Frankfurt's printing presses will roll at last.
The Irish delegation, lead by the Taoiseach and including IDA chief executive Martin Shanahan, has other business. They are not in Davos to argue the toss about risk sharing by euro zone central banks. Their mission is simple: to meet potential investors and reassure them that, despite the abolition of the double Irish and the new enthusiasm shown by the Juncker-led Commission for clamping down on tax avoidance, Ireland is still the location of choice for tech companies.
The Taoiseach may be speaking at a session this morning on how to ensure political stability and deliver growth, but he will earn his corn tonight when he hosts a dinner with the IDA.
Eric Schmidt of Google and Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook have also made the trek to the Swiss Alps and no doubt are top of the Taoiseach's aspirational dance card. Marissa Mayer of Yahoo and Marc Benioff of Salesforce. com would also be well worth a spin. Another name that he and the IDA would dearly like to put down on the card is Alibaba's founder and executive chairman Jack Ma, who is also in town. The IDA's courtship of China's answer to Ebay began in earnest during the President's recent state visit to the Asian powerhouse.
The Knowledge Development Box that was coincidentally unveiled last week by the Department of Finance will no doubt loom large in any discussions for the Taoiseach. The message for investors is pretty simple: the rate that will be charged on profits that accrue inside the box has not been set. But you might want to note a report in last week's Irish Times that it will be 5 per cent.
