Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

For the sake of balance, Mr. Fraser might also discuss what the social policy group does. As he said, the Clearing House Group is the subject of a great deal of public discussion. Perhaps he might say a few words on the social policy group which is the other group he chairs. It would be of interest to the committee.

We have seen a significant attack on Ireland Inc. in the past couple of weeks. I refer to what happened at a Westminster committee with reference to Google and what happened at a US Senate committee hearing with reference to Apple. The impression is being created that Ireland is some sort of tax haven for large multinational corporations. Some people in the United States and the United Kingdom are trying to say large corporations such as Google and Apple are working through Ireland to defraud the taxpayer in these countries of massive amounts of tax. It is important that Mr. Fraser give the committee some response or make some points in that regard. It seems that Google paid just €3 million in corporation tax in Ireland. It has been suggested that if it was paying corporation tax on what some regard as its profits, it would have to pay more than €1 billion.

I will explain what has actually happened. This should be the course of the discussion at US Senate and Westminster committees. Many countries have bilateral tax agreements with each other. There are bilateral agreements between the United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland and a host of other countries across the world. Those concerned about what is going on in Google or Apple do not mention these agreements which relate purely to what we do in Ireland. There is a need for Mr. Fraser to make a statement in that regard. We are being seen as the bad boys with regard to corporation tax, but that is not true. Many of the issues involved relate to the bilateral tax agreements all countries have with each other. If we had an opportunity to drill into this issue - I will not do so now - we would see that some of the historical approaches to taxes in the United States, for instance, have contributed to the situation where multinationals are seen as avoiding what is considered by some to be their fair share. I would like Mr. Fraser to comment on this. This is the place for such a comment to be made because this committee deals with these issues.

The approach being taken by the Department of the Taoiseach and the Taoiseach in setting and implementing priorities is very important. All too often, programmes for Government have been written year after year before taking on the same life as the policy documents written by the Department of Health that I used to see - they gather dust in the corner of someone's office. When priorities are set, it is important that people are made to implement them. One of the big problems I noted in the course of the Celtic tiger was that many did not realise that their good salaries meant they had responsibilities to the people who were paying those salaries. One of these responsibilities was to implement priorities, which is what is being done now. I commend the different approach to government now being adopted. It is about being responsible and accountable. There is far greater transparency, regardless of the impression given today that there is some kind of conspiracy. I actually think there is much greater transparency in government at this time.