Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Professor Barry that we have to be very conscious of the ramifications of any measure that we take. However, every year we make changes through the Finance Bill. We know the loophole exists whereby companies locate here and make billions in profits annually while not paying tax anywhere in the world.

The Department of Finance is happy to have the matter dealt with at a global level. As Professor Barry stated, however, this approach is a damp squib which will not lead anywhere. Ireland is caught between a rock and hard place because if we act alone, we will damage the multinational companies located here and if we fail to act, we will effectively admit to these companies that the option of allowing them to continue to exploit our tax code to avoid paying tax here and everywhere else in the world is the lesser of two evils.