Taoiseach Brian Cowen has said no proposals were made at today's EU summit about changing Ireland's corporate tax rate of 12.5%.
Mr Cowen said the rate was a cornerstone of Ireland's industrial policy and a issue of national competence, rather than the EU.
Speaking at the end of his last summit, he said the European Commission was to bring forward proposals on changes to corporate consolidated tax base, but Ireland is 'very sceptical' about the plan.
The Taoiseach said when the plan was published, the Irish Government would look at it. But the position of Dublin was clear, he said, adding the proposals would not achieve the stated aim of improving Ireland's competitiveness.
Mr Cowen said an unscheduled meeting of eurozone countries, which will examine new proposals on the debt crisis, would take place after 9 March.
This means that this was Mr Cowen's final summit, and whoever becomes Taoiseach after the General Election will almost immediately be participating in intensive negotiations on the euro's future.
Sarkozy calls for corporation tax agreement
EU President Nicolas Sarkozy has said that there should be agreement on a ‘new basis for company profit taxation.’
He said it didn't mean identical policies from one country to the next, but to ‘bring countries closer together instead of moving further and further apart.’
There was no question of taking decisions on details, but to show that there was ‘clear determination on the fact that we want this pact and we want economic governance and that we want convergence.’
He was speaking after EU leaders met for several hours to discuss wide ranging changes to the rules governing the eurozone.
It was not immediately clear if President Sarkozy was refering to the corporate taxation base or corporate tax rates.
Many of the ideas are contained in a so called Pact For Convergence and Competitiveness. The broad outlines were discussed today, while the detail, such as the issue of corporate tax, will now be looked at by the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and eurozone capitals.
A final decision is expected at the Spring summit on 24-25 March.
Leaders also considered how to improve Europe's energy supply, as well as job creation proposals from Ireland's EU Commissioner, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn.
Ireland was represented by the Taoiseach Brian Cowen - his last EU Council meeting.
A senior EU diplomat told RTÉ News that, from an Irish point of view, the timing could not be worse, as this is Mr Cowen's last full Council meeting and the new Taoiseach will only be in office a couple of weeks when the big decisions are taken in late March.
