Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Either the Minister is not examining the issue seriously or he is being disingenuous. I cited an example of one of the country's most profitable companies paying a corporation tax rate of 0.5%. It was well publicised. Is it not of concern that the tax forgone to the State is approximately €90 million at a time when Ministers are considering imposing further brutal attacks on people in the coming budget?

Another set of figures show that total profits in Ireland amounted to €51 billion in 2008, but that the effective tax rate across all corporations was 10%. If the Government increased that rate to 12.5%, an extra €1.25 billion would accrue to the State. Is this not a problem that the Minister should examine? Does it not concern him that multinational corporations are getting away with murder and not even paying the derisory 12.5% corporate tax rate at a time when cruel austerity is being imposed on people who cannot afford it?

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