Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

First, if we had the ability to table amendments that would impose a charge on the State or the public purse I would not have drafted amendments to provide for a report. I and my party want the Minister to revert back to the pre-2014 position. I do not want the Minister to justify the fact that AIB will pay no taxes for 20 years and Permanent TSB will pay no taxes for 22 years. Some of these banks are recording €1.5 billion in profit. Bank of Ireland will not pay any taxes to the Irish State for a number of years. The public wants those banks to start paying their taxes and they want those taxes used to fix the health service and the housing and homelessness crisis. They want the banks and bankers to start paying fair taxes.

That is why I am pressing amendment No. 45. I want an informed discussion and debate and the report would allow us to do that. The options will include all of those issues, but I want to steer the Parliament in a direction such that we no longer tolerate a situation whereby a bank that records €1.5 billion of profit in 2017 does not pay a penny of tax to the State.

Like Deputy McGrath, I value the issue of losses being carried forward. I have not argued for that to be taken out of the tax code. However, I have argued against the position resulting from the NAMA Act 2009, put in place by the late Brian Lenihan. Obviously there was pressure at the time because of the bailout of the banks and a massive guarantee had been issued to the banks at the time. The then Minister had the foresight to see that these banks were going to be profitable at some point in future and that they needed to start paying their taxes as quickly as possible.

The 2013 situation no longer arises. Representatives from Allied Irish Banks appeared before the committee and I questioned them on the matter. They referred to the fact that if they did not have this provision in 2013, and taking effect in 2014, there would be need for additional capital. However, they also confirmed that if we went back to the 50% figure, there would be no requirement for additional capital to be raised. Moreover, even if additional capital were to be raised, those banks are likely to be able to raise that capital on the international markets instead of drawing from the public purse.

This is why I am pressing amendment No. 45. The Minister is saying that he will give us the information, but he is not going to change his position. The Minister is doing that deliberately and I understand why he is doing it. He is sending a clear signal to the markets, potential investors and the banks to the effect that everything is fine and not to worry, and that as long as Fine Gael is in government, they will be able to continue not paying taxes on the massive profits they make for the coming 20 years. The Minister is signalling to the bankers that Fine Gael has their back and that the party is for opportunists. I am saying that is wrong. There is no point in the Minister providing information to us but then saying he is not going to change his position.

Amendment No. 45 tries to allow members present to decide whether it is the right course of action to allows banks in the State that have been bailed out with tens of billions of euro of taxpayers’ money to pay no taxes for the next 20 years. We can decide through a vote that this situation needs to come to an end. We can have an options paper within six months on how to bring it to an end and it will include all the information that has the effect of the capital allowance. From there, we can make the decision on which option is preferred.