Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ours is a small country, and as the witnesses are aware, our economic development has been blighted by colonisation, our ongoing partition, a denial of industrialisation and the lack of iron and coal. They can see the way our gas has been given away. This is one of the reasons we reserve the right to make our own decisions about tax policy. Large countries with an industrial base call for what they say is equal treatment. However, that can mean less for small countries and that is what concerns us. Do the witnesses believe that the European Commission and the European Parliament proposals amount to a reduction in national sovereignty? Currently the State effectively operates with three different corporation tax rates. We all know about the 12.5% rate that was mentioned earlier. There is also a 25% tax on non-trading income, and a 33% rate of capital gains tax. Under the CCCTB, is it not the case that we would only be allowed to have one tax rate? That, surely, would mean a reduction of our economic sovereignty.