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

At the centre of this is the payment of royalties, licences and profit shifting. With Ireland, and considering the 2007 figures for multinationals, the royalties and licences transferred out amounted to €18.6 billion. The 2012 figures are provisional but they amount to €32 billion, or almost double the amount from 2007. Nevertheless, profits dipped from €26 billion in 2007 to €25 billion in 2012. Over five years, the taxable profits of multinationals in the State reduced by €1 billion but the amount transferred out, which avoided taxation, nearly doubled in the time. Does that raise alarm bells for the Commission?