Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the VAT scheme the announcement of an increase in the threshold for cash receipts to €2 million is significant and it is to be welcomed.

The Minister announced a number of measures with regard to construction. The message I want to convey today is the main issue to address in construction and property, if one wants to get the sector moving again, is the lack of credit and the fact many young people who have been saving and want to buy a house for the first time simply cannot get a mortgage from the banks. The priority must be to fix the banks to get a normal level of credit flowing in the economy again to give these people an opportunity to buy a property for the first time. There may well be areas, particularly in Dublin, where there is a shortage of certain types of property but the main issue which needs to be addressed in the short term is the lack of credit.

The Minister announced a certain change to corporation tax today. He should be under no illusions; Ireland's corporation tax policies are under siege. We need to send out a strong united message from the House that Ireland values its ability to determine its own corporation tax policies and that our rules are transparent and in line with OECD guidelines. We need to be far more proactive in making the case definitively for retaining autonomy and setting our own corporation tax rate. This needs to be a priority for the Government at the highest level. None of us should be complacent about the mutterings we hear from Germany about the ongoing coalition government negotiations there, whereby Ireland's corporation tax regime has found its way onto the agenda. Let us not be complacent about this. It poses a real and substantial risk to this country and needs to be addressed.

Last month the European Commission sought information from Ireland, as we know, on how certain multinationals are treated from a corporation tax point of view. We need to insist this preliminary investigation which has been launched is dealt with as quickly as possible, because for as long as it remains open-ended it is a cloud hanging over our inward investment offering and needs to be addressed. The reality is Ireland is at war to defend our corporation tax rate and system. What we have heard from the Government until now is there will be no unilateral change and we will move along with other countries to implement the OECD initiative on base erosion and profit shifting, BEPS, and any changes would be part of a co-ordinated initiative. What the Minister has announced today is a departure from this. It might be regarded as a minor change, and certainly the notion of a "double Irish" has given us a bad reputation in recent times as hardly a week goes by without a significant international newspaper or media outlet covering the issue, but we need to examine it in great detail. There has been a departure from the stated policy until now that we will move in line with other countries.

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