Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would like to raise the issue of foreign direct investment and, particularly, the PricewaterhouseCoopers-World Bank report on paying taxes in 2014 and the paper by Professor James Stewart of Trinity College, which has revealed that as a result of deliberate tax avoidance by US multinationals, facilitated by the tax code of this State, American corporations are in reality only paying an effective corporation tax rate of 2.2%. That represents a significant financial loss. This question is not about the headline corporation tax rate of 12.5% but it is about the abuse of the international tax system and tax avoidance.

Sinn Féin fully acknowledges the benefits of FDI and we know that more than 100,000 citizens are employed by American owned corporations but the notion of them paying, as Professor Stewart has pointed out, only 2.2% is not sustainable and fair. Multinationals should pay the same tax rate as indigenous enterprises. There will always be a probability that these companies will come here to avail of tax avoidance and I am sure the Taoiseach will agree that is not acceptable. It has also become a greater issue internationally because, clearly, a sustainable and fair recovery cannot be built on such a system.

I am also mindful of how this affects the developing world. At last year's Clinton Global Initiative meeting, former US President Bill Clinton raised the question of action companies could take to support development in African, which is to pay their taxes. One business person from the Continent pleaded with the big companies to pay their taxes in Africa. What plans has the Taoiseach to close tax avoidance loopholes and to restore our international reputation in this matter? Has the EMC plans to deal with this? Will that include steps to monitor the number and value of Irish registered non-residential companies operating out of the State? Can the Taoiseach ensure the State is not being used to funnel profits tax free out of the developing world? That would be entirely contrary to our sense as a people of ourselves and of the one-world vision most progressive Irish people hold.

See this speech in context