Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The logic of the Minister's argument is we should never tax the banks because doing so means they will have less capital, will charge higher interest rates and will be less capable of lending into the economy. It is a ridiculous, crazy argument for a Minister for Finance to put forward. There is no rational defence of why we would allow banks, that between them have recorded more than €1 billion in profits, not to pay the corporation tax rate of 12.5% that every other company, no matter how big or small, pays on its profits.