Ireland is likely to decide on Thursday whether or not to sign up to a global tax deal that would see it increase corporation tax above 12.5%.

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said on Wednesday he was “hopeful” Ireland would be able to sign up to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) deal on global tax reform.

The deal could see Ireland’s highly-prized 12.5% rate increase to 15%.

Ireland is one of just a small number of countries not to have signed up to the deal, but has come under increasing international pressure to do so.

Mr Coveney said: “[Finance] Minister Paschal Donohoe will bring forward a recommendation on the basis of the latest text that’s going to be finalised for an OECD meeting that’s happening on Friday.

“The expectation now is that the OECD meeting on Friday will finalise a new framework and basis for international corporate tax.

“I am hopeful that Ireland can be part of supporting this new measure, but we have to wait for for the final text, which hopefully will be available later on this evening.”

Mr Coveney repeated a fear, expressed by other senior Government figures in recent weeks, that failure to back the deal would isolate Ireland in the international community.

“Ireland does not want to be isolated in this space, but at the same time we certainly want to ensure that the view that we have in relation to tax, which is a view that many other small countries rely on us to to make, is properly heard.

“We have asked for some reasonable changes that can provide as much certainty as possible in terms of managing the Irish economy going forward,” he told RTE.