Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I referred to underinvestment.

In recent years, we argued that the Government could get the money to obviate the need for cuts from a number of sources, including the corporate sector through corporation tax.

What we proposed was dismissed as rubbish and it was said that it would threaten our national economy. We could not say "boo" to the multinationals. It was only because a small number of people on this side of the House persisted in saying there was an absolute scandal in the area of corporate tax and pointing out that companies were not paying even close to 12.5%, and because of international criticism over the tax haven role Ireland was playing in facilitating aggressive tax avoidance, that eventually and begrudgingly the Government was pushed into beginning to move with the international tide to clamp down on aggressive tax avoidance by the multinationals.

Lo and behold then, the pot of gold the Minister said did not exist suddenly appeared - the unexplained €2 billion in extra corporate tax receipts which the Minister laughably claims is to do with a surge in sales. I absolutely refute that. It has nothing to do with a surge in sales. I defy the Government to provide the evidence for that. Perhaps the Minister can do that for us. Perhaps he can provide us with the monthly breakdowns of the corporate tax rates for this year, which we always receive several years behind, so that we can discover the real picture on corporate tax, the profits being made and the sudden appearance of an extra €2 billion.

I am very glad some of this money is being put into extra spending in the areas the Government has butchered over the past number of years. However, is this just a pre-election stunt or is there any intention to go after all of the corporate tax money so that we have the resources to recover the massive butchering of budgets the Government has implemented over the past five years? I do not believe the Minister has the will to that, because I think this is a pre-election stunt.

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