Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy continually cites a gross profit figure but a huge amount of that figure, and I am not going to refer to the company because I do not want to be specific about any company, relates to activity that is nothing to do with this country. That is why when people extrapolate a rate of 2% or 3%, they are putting into all accounts the great majority of work that has no connection to this country. We tax what goes on in this country and for which we are responsible. We are not responsible for a relationship that might exist between a corporate entity and another tax authority where an element of that business resides. We are not responsible for that.

The gold standard in respect of the international community comes from the OECD and I refer the Deputy to the report of the OECD and the World Bank which has confirmed the Irish effective tax rate is 1% to 1.5% away from the actual headline tax rate. Why do I say the OECD is important? Because in the last two decades movement in this area has been clearly led by the OECD which recognises huge sums of money are being lost to domestic governments all over the world. The Taoiseach spoke about VAT fraud earlier but there are many other ways in which corporates can effectively organise their affairs to reduce their tax liability. The real issue for US multinational companies is to bring those profits back to the United States, where they are taxed at between 10% and 35%. Once they do that, those funds are not available to the businesses. That is the real issue and that can be resolved overnight in the United States if Congress decides to implement a law in that regard.

The OECD has led on this issue. That is why we have 69 separate double taxation agreements with countries around the world. That is why we have this automatic tax exchange agreement with the United States, which incidentally is becoming the way in which the Europeans are going to negotiate with our colleagues in America. America tells us it wants this automatic tax exchange information on an annual basis for the companies and individuals in Ireland. We can now do that: it is a totally transparent system. The real issue is if the 26 other member states of the European Union will come to that agreement. The logic of the position is that we should have a common position with the US on this issue and we are working to achieve that.

Deputy Adams asked about the EU Heads of Mission report on Jerusalem. I agree that it should be put on the agenda and we will work to see if we can obtain agreement on that between now and the end of the Presidency. I will get the Deputy the information on the emergency funding for fodder. If it is possible the fund would become available, it would make sense to use it.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney, is in Brussels regularly to see exactly what additional support can be obtained, but I will get the Deputy the latest position on the matter.

Deputy Dooley asked why the Taoiseach is not going to the United States this week to beat his breast about this issue. As the Deputy will be aware, the Taoiseach spends a considerable amount of time in the United States of America drumming up business, ensuring the Irish story is understood, and as President of the European Union, and he will continue to do that.

Deputy Dooley did not refer to this matter of tax haven; Deputy Boyd Barrett did. This is a dangerous business. We are talking about more than 150,000 good well-paying jobs, directly and indirectly in this country. These jobs, in manufacturing, financial services, distribution and IT, are putting significant numbers of our people to work. We have managed to get those companies to this country, not only because of the 12.5% corporate tax rate but because we are English speaking, we are in the eurozone-----

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