Mr. Pat Cox:

A there are many states in the European Union that have sensitivities about this, Ireland is not alone. I do not know if it will happen as changes to the tax code require unanimity. This is the state of law. It may well be that some people would prefer that not to be the law but that is what it is. If we choose to hold out on that, we can do it. Of course, when one holds out on something, somebody else holds out on something else. That is the nature of political life down the line. We would not be the only ones and Ireland would not be exposed as the only hold-out on the matter. I do not know if it will happen. With the Apple case cited by the Senator, I know the Government is joining the Apple appeal and the vies of the Revenue Commissioners is that what happened with Apple is consistent with the state of law. At least on the face of it, I am prepared to accept, if it is what our authorities argue, that this is so. What is consistent with the state of law will be decided in the end by the court.

Stepping out from the law to a question of wider ethics, we could ask if it makes sense that very large global corporations, through the law, can have tax rates at 0.1% or whatever it is. This is one of the problems that many ordinary citizens have with the presumption that the winners of globalisation pocket everything and the losers carry the cost. Frankly, we must be part of that debate as it matters to our society because we believe in globalisation and its positive utility to develop the mechanisms that understand where it hurts, we have a social and political responsibility to address such hurt. These were the voices that emerged in Brexit, to a degree, and in the election of Mr. Donald Trump, and we need to find some realistic answers to them. We need openness and foreign direct investment but we must also speak with our friends about some sense of ethics and fairness.