Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The Government's rationale for not going for an FTT is revealing, as it is a reference to Brexit. There is the possibility that the Brexit we see will be, as Mr. Jeremy Corbyn deemed it, a bargain basement Brexit, with Britain attempting a further race to the bottom in terms of tax of corporations and financial transactions etc. in the City of London. The idea is that this is a particularly bad time for Ireland to consider a financial transaction tax because Britain may be going in that direction. It is completely in thrall to the idea of a race to the bottom and the consequent logic. From that, the only people who win will be the corporations and the people who lose will be those who depend on public services around the world. That is the Government's logic.

With regard to Ireland being a tax haven, one can say something so many times one might even begin to believe it. The idea that Ireland is not a tax haven but at the forefront of the fight against tax avoidance and tax evasion does not wash. Oxfam did a report last year and found Ireland was the sixth worst country in the world in terms of being a corporate tax haven. Mr. Philip Alston, UN special rapporteur on poverty, said that nobody believes Ireland is not a tax haven. It stands in reality and a big part of that is the IFSC. The Minister previously mentioned that 40,000 people are employed in the industry but this can be contrasted with the level of assets controlled in the IFSC or supposedly located there. There is the classic example of 5 Harbourmaster Place. I am not sure what the current position is but there were €2 billion in assets and 250 companies located there but not a single employee. There is very little social benefit as a result of these activities but a way of getting a social benefit would be to have a study for and ultimately to introduce a financial transactions tax. The Government will not even consider it or having a study for that purpose, which is very revealing.