Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Yes, but our tax rate of 12.5% is very generous. It is very generous headline rate, but it is not the effective rate. I can understand offsetting in cases where there are losses. However, if a large company can employ people to work on being "efficient" - is that the word used? - in respect of calculating its taxes or minimising the amount it pays, then the generosity is not really in the headline rate but in the other associated elements which result in the effective rate being lower than it should be. Some companies are paying less than 1%.