Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being absent for the voting session and all that. I will be brief because I know others want to speak. I thank the witnesses for their work not only on their submissions but on the publications that we received last year. Their reports are food for thought. While not all of us agree with everything in the submissions, we recognise and value the expertise, time and effort that the witnesses put into compiling information. It raises serious questions about the conversations we need to have on the medium and long-term sustainability of finances. One of the benefits is that we have a bit of time if we act now. It does not have to be quite as sharp as if we delay, when the adjustment could be more significant or severe.

I apologise because I missed the first part of one of the questions and Deputy Durkan's questions. If I am repeating anything, I can look back at the Official Report and we can move on. I have a question for Mr. Coffey on his submission and his focus on corporate tax rates, the OECD base erosion and profit shifting, BEPS, process, and how the implementation of that is evolving or has evolved.

We are conscious in all of this that the European Commission is going to implement pillar 2 through a directive and that a proposal has passed the US Congress that deviates from the OECD agreement in terms of pillar 2. In his opening statement Mr. Coffey says the introduction of a 15% rate goes significantly beyond the scope of the agreement and that the proposed minimum tax under pillar 2 requires only that Ireland ensure that Irish multinationals have paid a minimum of 15% on their profits in all jurisdictions in which they operate. He says it is the US that is required to ensure that US multinationals have paid 15% of their profits. He also says we have decided to move in front of this and apply a 15% rate to the profits of all companies operating in Ireland with revenue over €750 million. I think he goes on to say that is not defending the 12.5% tax rate.

I want to tease this out with Mr. Coffey. Is it the case that if Ireland were not to implement a 15% tax rate on all multinationals operating here, and it was only to apply the rate to Irish multinationals, as is the minimum required under the OECD agreement, it would be the US that would collect those tax revenues through the income inclusion rule and the under-tax payment rule? Therefore, does it not make logical sense, because this can only work if all parties are involved, for us to collect the tax, if the tax is going to be paid by these companies anyway? For the sake of argument, if we have a company like Apple here and it must pay a minimum 15% tax rate under the OECD pillar 2 rules, if the US signed up to it in that way, why would we not ensure that the tax is paid to us and is paid to the United States? Is it not the sensible thing for the State to go down that road, or am I missing something?