Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Before we vote on the motion, I wish to speak in support of it. At least one speaker who voted against the previous two motions has suggested that it is the intention of the sub-committee to bring in the multinationals. Let me be clear, if we vote against this motion, the view of the committee is that no multinationals are to be brought in at this stage. It will be an option that could be a recommendation of a report when published but the committee will not be able to request multinationals to appear before it prior to it concluding its work and reports to the joint committee.

There is the famous phrase, "who fears to speak". The question for this committee is: "Who fears to ask?". We appear to be paralysed by fear in terms of asking questions of multinational companies. In my view, what we are doing is holding an inquiry or hearings into multinational corporation tax but not inviting in the main players to ask them questions. This is the equivalent of having a banking inquiry without inviting in the bank officials. Can anyone imagine if this committee were tasked with holding the banking inquiry and it decided to invite in the Ministers present on the night, the regulator and, perhaps, the-----