Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Here we go again. We already have real estate investment trusts, REITs, investment limited partnerships, ILPs, and now we have enhanced equipment trust certificates, EETCs. The same logic runs behind all of these, namely, tax breaks for foreign capital supposedly on the grounds that the latter will bring with it jobs and investment. I am aware of the Government's view on this matter. It has been quite clearly stated on many occasions. There is no transparency around these vehicles. The note in the explanatory memorandum refers to investment limited partnerships, which we have just discussed, and states "exemptions for the transfer of foreign shares and certain financial services instruments will apply in the case of securitisation transactions". This is interesting stuff. Securitisation transactions were at the heart of the global economic collapse and we are now going to give tax breaks to the entities involved in them. I would be interested to hear the Minister of State elaborate on this matter in layman's language.

I cited the example of the aviation sector, which others have also mentioned. It was reported in some of the newspapers that a subsidiary of General Electric involved in aviation leasing, based out of Shannon, was paying less than 1% in corporate tax and declared, if I remember correctly, €600 million in profits and that if it had paid the 12.5% rate, it would have paid approximately €90 million in tax. However, instead it paid approximately €600,000 in tax. This is a problem. At the very least it is something on which we need to shine a spotlight and get an explanation. How many people did that subsidiary of General Electric involved in aviation leasing employ in Ireland? Nobody. The argument that these exemptions are bringing jobs to the country does not stack up or at least we need evidence on that. We need to dispel the allegation being made or the belief that exists, which I share, that Ireland is operating as a tax haven. I ask the Minister of State to respond to some of those questions.