Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The position on corporation tax is very clear. We have a 12.5% rate of corporation tax. It is statute-based and applies to profits that are earned in Ireland. It is applied consistently. We did have a problem with the issue of the stateless company. The Government recognised that loophole in our tax system and, last October, when we brought in the budget for 2014, we addressed and resolved it by ending the concept of stateless companies.

There is an international issue around corporation tax whereby multinational companies which operate across a number of jurisdictions are able to plan their tax affairs in a way that minimises their tax contribution globally. This is an issue that has to be tackled on an international basis. The OECD, of which we are a member, is working on it by way of the base erosion and profit shifting project it undertook some time ago. Ireland is participating in that project, which has the support of the G20 and the European Union. This is a problem that has to be addressed at an international level. I was at the OECD only a few weeks ago, along with the Taoiseach and other Ministers, where we discussed the progress that is being made on this issue. We want to see this issue addressed at a global level, and the appropriate body through which it can be addressed is the OECD. That organisation is making progress and we are working with it to that end.

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