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

The Minister of State claims Ireland is not a tax haven and that we have an effective corporate tax rate of close to 12%. If that is the case, could the Minister of State explain to me and the public why the European Union's own website, which shows figures for the implicit corporate tax rate across Europe, states that Ireland's implicit tax rate is 6.8%? Contrary to the Minister of State's remarks about France, the website shows France's corporate tax rate at 21.6%, Germany's at 17.1%, Greece's at 17.8%, Sweden's at 27.2% and Britain's at 17.7%. According to the EU Commission, our corporate tax rate is a fraction of the average across Europe. I am not saying it, the Commission is saying it.

Could the Minister of State respond the remarks of a former senior staff member in Google, who sent me an e-mail? He said that Google Ireland had a turnover of €47 billion between 2005 and 2011. The profits over that period were a minimum of €9.5 billion. Over that period, the company paid taxes of €69.91 million, a 0.7% tax rate. It is another company to add to the list, along with Apple and Abbot Laboratories. How can the Minister of State tell us we have a transparent corporate tax system when that is a reality?

This person explained how this works with Google. Google Ireland Holdings owns the internal systems and software the advertising network runs on. Google Ireland employs people, charges clients money and makes those profits. Google Ireland pays a licence fee to Google Ireland Holdings for the use of that software and in a strange coincidence Google Ireland Holdings Limited charges a fee that is almost exactly the amount Google Ireland Limited makes each year. Of course, the fee changes each year to match the growing profits. That is what is known as the double Irish; that is how it works, it is a tax dodge and we facilitate it.

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