PRESIDENT MARY MCALEESE has begun an official visit to the Netherlands, during which she is expected to announce to Dutch business leaders that Ireland will not change its corporation tax.

At a lunch organised by the IDA, An Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and Tourism Ireland, President McAleese is expected to say that Ireland will maintain its corporation tax rate despite its economic problems – and the pressure being applied to raise it from some EU partners, such as France and Germany, RTÉ reports.

McAleese has criticised previous calls for the rate to be raised, calling such demands “a nonsense”. During an interview with a Dutch newspaper last month, she said that the the issue was “not up for negotiation”.

Speaking with the NRC Handelsblad, the President said: “It is not for negotiation. We have enough debts without throwing away one of the most important tools that we have that will enable us to pay our debts. We just don’t accept that there is any argument. We think it is a nonsense”, the Irish Times reports.

She also pointed out that Ireland’s corporation tax policy “long, long, long predates” the county’s EU membership.