Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to contribute to this debate, and I commend my colleagues on their tabling of this motion. This is a very timely subject ahead of budget 2016 next week and alongside the OECD's BEPS report, which was published recently. It also falls alongside the EU proposal for automatic exchange of tax rulings, all of which represents the biggest change in the global taxation system in 100 years. Will this delayed reaction be enough to tackle the trend of increasing economic inequality both at home and abroad?

At home, we have a love affair with multinational companies, the main agent in global taxation practice and tax avoidance. We provide tax incentives and supports for research and development and send our foreign direct investment missionaries to seek and find potential investors, paying for their journey to Ireland in the hope that they stay long enough to be noticed. Deals were made between Apple and the Revenue Commissioners back as far as the 1980s, effectively representing State aid for the multinational giant. Then we have the competitive corporation tax mantra, which the Government barely enforces, yet wears like a badge of honour and national pride. Of course, that means that companies do not end up paying most of the tax owed, if any at all.

Tax avoidance in Ireland amounts to about €4 billion in lost tax revenue. I can think of many social needs exacerbated by the crisis which could make good use of that money, but no, we must do anything to keep the multinationals here, even losing our sovereignty for the sake of the jobs they provide. Let us look at those jobs. Zero-hour or low-hour contracts and precarious work are all features of the Government's desperate job creation policy, which looks to multinationals as a quick fix for the unemployment crisis. Multinationals have been given a central role in the economic recovery. They have even stayed relatively secure during the recession, and this year IDA Ireland promoted the central position of multinationals in job creation with an announcement on the potential creation of 80,000 jobs. Today multinationals represent 12% of total private sector employment. What about our indigenous companies? Why are they not central to our jobs policy?

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