The Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has told the Dáil there is support from some countries for the European Commission's proposed financial transaction tax, but the UK is opposed to it.
Minister Noonan said if there was a financial transaction tax established that did not apply in London there would be a risk of displacement.
He also said if the tax was applied across the euro zone, there would be a risk of displacement to financial centres such as New York, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
The Minister said there are a lot of issues to be looked at, and Ireland had to protect its interests.
He was responding to a question by Fianna Fáil's Michael McGrath who said such a tax would have to be applied on a global basis.
