David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There has been a spotlight on Ireland for some time now in terms of corporation tax. Some of it is good and some of it not so good in terms of the perception of how corporation tax is applied in Ireland. We have the European Commission's judgment on Apple. Generally there has been what I would regard as a very negative interpretation of how the Irish tax code applies to multinationals. I have my own concerns as a citizen and a public representative. We were trying to establish as a Committee for Public Accounts how multinationals see our tax code, how they interact with it and Revenue so we can learn from it and do a report on the back of it. It is disappointing that all but one have not taken up the opportunity to come before the committee. I do not know whether that says more about them or us; I would say it says more about them. We should commend the one company that was in a position to come to us. Notwithstanding the companies sending us information that may or may not be useful to us, what we were looking for was these companies to come. We cannot compel them. Their attendance was requested on a voluntary basis to help us understand how they interact with the tax code as an organisation. These companies make a lot of money here. They are very profitable companies. Some of their interactions with the tax code can cost the taxpayer money. In my view, we had a duty to follow up on it and I commend the Chairman for taking it on as an initiative. We cannot compel them to come. It says something about the multinationals that operate here that they were not prepared to come before the Committee of Public Accounts to help us understand how they, as companies, interact with the tax code. It is not good from their perspective and I want to put that on the record. I commend GlaxoSmithKline as the one company that was prepared to come in and talk to us. It should also be noted that many of the companies that have refused to come before the Committee of Public Accounts appeared before similar committees in Wales, England, the US and other parts of Europe. They have form in attending similar committees in different countries but were not in a position to come to this committee in this State. People can make up their own minds on that when they consider it is the one country in which they would not attend at the committee despite the controversy around how multinationals operate here. It speaks volumes for them and it is disappointing that they have decided not to take the opportunity to come before us.