Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Commission, as well as being the administration arm of the European Union, is also a political forum. The Deputy has dealt with Commissioners. It is a political forum where the political impact of what it does is assessed as well. It is part of the way Europe is run. I do not think it was focusing on Ireland in particular. It shares a view that I shared, and which I still share, that multinational companies, because of the mismatch of tax law in different jurisdictions, are not paying the amount of tax they should be paying. That is not the issue. I do not think Apple was paying sufficient tax worldwide. The argument is that the tax liability was not in Ireland; it was where the economic activity occurred. One can see the big debate that is starting again in the United States about reforming US corporation tax. To answer the Deputy's question on whether the Commission was having a go at Ireland, I would say not particularly. The issue was to give an edge to the reforms being conducted principally by the OECD but also by the Commission so that these mismatches, which give rise to a reduction in the payment of taxes, could be taken out of the system. It was not particularly directed against Ireland.