Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I will deal with just one of the huge number of issues that arise. Was the Taoiseach asked in any detail about the controversy with regard to Irish corporation tax policy or about the race to the bottom throughout Europe in respect of corporation tax, which this and previous Governments have championed? Did any civil society organisations or others raise this issue with the Taoiseach? Earlier, the Taoiseach referred to the abolition of the "double Irish" tax scam. Did he advise anyone who asked him that this mechanism will remain in place for another five years for all the major corporations which have scandalously availed of it in order to legally avoid paying tax? As with St. Augustine, it is a question of hankering after purity but not quite yet, as far as taxation policies relating to big business are concerned. Is the Taoiseach aware that non-governmental organisations such as Christian Aid that are heavily involved in poor countries have outlined the damage done by what the he describes as tax competitiveness but what is, in fact, a mechanism to allow massive global corporations to avoid paying billions in taxation? The tax in question should be used for social good and social investment but the Government's policies prevent that.

Is it not incredible that the leader of the biggest Opposition party in this Parliament has chosen to weigh in to this debate in order to bolster the giant multinational corporations to which I refer? For example, he mentioned Google and Apple. The latter made a profit of €18 billion in one quarter of last year. However, the Deputy in question did not have a word to say about the Garda's dawn raids on the homes of ordinary activists and public representatives who are fighting injustice and austerity. Was the Taoiseach aware that gardaí were going to be sent to the homes of public representatives and anti-water-charge activists?

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