Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 62:

In page 59, between lines 28 and 29, to insert the following:"33. The Minister shall, within nine months from the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report the effective rates of corporation tax paid by companies in the State.".

This relates to our discussion on public country-by-country reporting. The basis of many of these changes is the fact that Ireland has been an outlier as regards corporate tax, which has cost us dearly in terms of the amount of tax that we should have been receiving over a long number of years. Changes have been made and are welcome, as is country-by-country reporting, but when the likes of Trinity College academic Professor Jim Stewart uses information from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis and estimates that the effective corporate tax paid by foreign firms is 2.2%, the damage caused by this policy shocks to the bone. It all affects everyday human experiences. Yesterday, we discussed with the Minister, Deputy Noonan, the 7,700 people on trolleys since the start of this year in my local hospital in County Meath, the 400,000 people on health service waiting lists, the 130,000 people on housing waiting lists and the thousands of children in emergency accommodation. Two weeks ago, a woman rang me from a tent with her daughter because of the lack of housing in County Meath.

We see on the one hand a country whose delivery of public services has been vandalised significantly over the past five to ten years, and on the other an effective corporation tax rate - not by my estimation but that of the US Bureau of Economic Analysis and Trinity College academics - of 2.5%. That is jarring information. Citizens in all the constituencies are paying income tax at a marginal rate of 40%. The purpose of this amendment and the previous amendment is to empower citizens with information and to ensure that they are no longer left in the dark as regards their spending power and their understanding of the contribution that companies make to the tax base of the State, and that information is to be made clear.

I understand the Minister stated that a change within the agreed negotiated position would reduce the ability for that to function properly. However, there is a logic to what I am saying. Potentially, the Minister would become a champion of information to citizens. He should seek to push this, either through the mechanism within the amendment or in negotiations on an OECD and a European basis.