Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim m'aitheantas agus mo bhuíochas leis na Teachtaí Dála a ghlac páirt sa díospóireacht. Agus an buiséad ag teacht agus leis an tuarascáil a fhoilsíodh ar an Luan, is rud dearfach é go raibh an díospóireacht seo againn anocht agus aréir.

I acknowledge the work of NGOs like Christian Aid, Trócaire, Oxfam, the Debt and Development Coalition Ireland and Attac who do such tremendous work on tax justice. This Private Members' motion was worked on by Deputies Boyd Barrett, Collins and myself, with the support of other Members of the Technical Group. We can all agree that it is essential that we have a fair taxation system in our country, which is fair to individuals and large corporations. In May 2015, the Lux leaks scandal resulted in a number of protests about how corporate secrecy undermines global tax collections across the world, including in the poorest countries. One banner said it all, namely, that we want to see what multinationals pay in tax, which is what is at the centre of this motion.

The Minister acknowledged that there has been an increase of 45% in the corporate tax intake recently, and he outlined his reasons for that. I suggest, however, that it is because issues like tax transparency, accountability and good governance are coming more to the fore that multinational companies are beginning to think and engage as they realise that their reputations are at stake. What was disappointing in some of the debate was the way in which it was suggested that those of us who tabled the motion are against foreign direct investment and want to increase corporate tax to such an extent that it would drive foreign direct investment away. We are all for job creation, but companies must respect workers' rights and pay fair taxes.

We made the point that tax systems that lack accountability and transparency are exacerbating inequality, and economic inequality compounds the other inequalities in health and education, not to mention the extent of the revenues that are lost through unjust tax systems. There were quite a number of examples of tax injustice highlighted in the course of the debate. Many examples showed where multinationals have played countries off against each other to make sure they only paid low levels of tax.

On the rate of 12.5%, even a modest increase would make a big difference but, leaving the increase aside, we have to collect the full 12.5% and also need to see the figures at the end of each year. A speaker mentioned Medtronic yesterday, an American medical devices company that acquired Covidien. It is reaping the benefits of lower taxes here, but has been quietly shedding jobs in a number of places in this country and there are concerns that it will continue to do so. It does not, of course, recognise that its workers should have any union rights. It obviously sees Ireland as a tax haven. We would welcome it, provided it respects workers' rights and paid its just taxes.

The OECD base erosion and profit shifting, BEPS, report purports, as the Government amendment states, "an internationally agreed approach to combatting aggressive tax planning and harmful tax practices". The OECD stated up to $24 billion is lost annually by governments around the world because of aggressive tax planning by multinationals. What is needed now are aggressive tax justice measures to ensure an end to this. This is what the motion is about. Will BEPS achieve this? It goes a considerable way towards bringing about change, but it does not go far enough. We are agreed on country-by-country reporting, but for it to be effective it must be done publicly. Even the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of this information being available.

Yesterday evening, the Minister of State, Deputy Harris, said the reason against the information being available publicly was "to protect the confidentiality of potentially sensitive information" but as we know, the European Commission is investigating this. The Minister for Finance and the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, received a letter from a group of NGOs, including those I mentioned and Transparency International, ActionAid and ICTU, stating that ending the secrecy surrounding tax payments and the economic activities of multinational corporations is a crucial step towards re-establishing trust in our tax system. It also stated this would bring about corporations paying their taxes in the jurisdictions where they operate and this would lead to financial stability and development. It would also give the public information on these multinationals and the contributions they make or do not make. It would also show lawmakers whether there were loopholes in tax systems that had to be addressed. It would help investors because they would have a fuller picture of companies and it would also help make a more level playing field for domestic businesses trying to compete with multinationals which have so many strategies at their disposal. It is hard to see why Ireland did not support the public country-by-country reporting. Going back to the banner, we want to see what multinationals pay.

Yesterday, the Minister of State mentioned the OECD BEPS process sought to involve developing countries, but I must ask whether it really listened to the voices from the global south because my understanding is there was a feeling it was just a public relations exercise. No notes were taken when the countries from the global south were there, and their issues on exploitation by multinationals depriving them of much-needed revenue is not addressed by BEPS.

I asked about the toolkits the OECD states it will develop. The spillover analysis of the impact of our tax system is very positive, but are we giving with one hand and taking with the other given the complexity on the tax issue?

The Minister has addressed the question I asked yesterday as to why we did not support the intergovernmental body on tax under the UN called for by so many NGOs. If we had been really serious about transparency and accountability in tax matters and good governance, we would have given it much more support than we did. If tax avoidance were tackled, it would enable developing countries to mobilise greater resources for development. We went for the OECD best package country-by-country reporting but not for it to be made public.

There is one way we can regulate, not eliminate, the increasing influence of the multinationals, and this is if we in Ireland implemented or developed our own national action plan to implement the guiding principles on business and human rights. Work is being done on this but it is taking quite a long time. At the very least, State-owned companies with an overseas presence should establish human rights due diligence. We should not go any further with the transatlantic trade and investment partnership, TTIP, until there is a robust assessment of the human rights aspects of it. At the very least we should oppose the inclusion of the investor state dispute settlement mechanism because it puts corporate rights over citizen rights.

The UNHCR notes 1.2 billion people live on $1.25 or less a day and 2.7 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day. This is in a world where we have resources many times over what is required to eliminate global poverty. One of the resources is tax. In 1990, the illicit financial flows were $9.7 billion, in 2008 they were $26.3 billion and they are now approaching $1 trillion. We are supposed to be happy the OECD BEPS will change all of this.

Ireland took a leadership role in facilitating agreement in the recently endorsed sustainable development goals, but the next step is the policy decisions which will see these implemented. Goal 16.4 commits action by 2030. This is too far away because too much damage can be done in the meantime. The aim of this goal is to reduce significantly illicit financial and arms flows because it will be very costly to fund the strategic development goals. Stopping illicit financial flows is a very viable and lucrative source of income as they are reckoned to be $1 trillion. This is what the Private Members' motion is about. It is about fairness and justice across the board when it comes to tax. Just tax policies and systems contribute to equality, combating poverty and tackling discrimination. It is hypocritical of us as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council where we are very well respected for our development aid because it is untied. We should have the same strong voice when it comes to taxation justice.

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