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

This motion is part of an ongoing and systematic cover-up, one involving the Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and others in the House, of the country's collusion with aggressive and large-scale corporate tax avoidance by the largest and most profitable multinationals in the world operating in Europe, including this country. It is extraordinary that the only reason we are even debating this motion now is because I telephoned the Chief Whip's office yesterday morning to ask why there was to be no debate on this measure, an EU proposal, demanding country-by-country public reporting of the profits and affairs of the wealthiest multinationals. It is extraordinary that even some of those who have spoken against the Government motion are members of the committee that agreed it. Where was the dissent on this matter at the committee? It would have allowed the motion to pass yesterday without any debate on what constituted a minimal effort to require country-by-country transparent reporting and a blacklist of tax havens, which are correct and long-overdue measures. They do not go far enough, but at least they are moving in the right direction.

Incredibly, the Government, Fianna Fáil and whoever else was on the committee went along with the idea that this measure should be blocked on the spurious grounds of subsidiarity, the rubbish notion that it transgresses into the area of tax policy. It is purely an accounting measure, one that requires multinationals operating across national borders to say where their profits are being generated. This is not a tax policy or tax measure. It simply addresses the deliberate and systematic hiding and shifting of profits by multinationals that are involved in staggeringly obscene tax evasions and in robbing the taxpayers of this country of tens of billions of euro and the taxpayers of the world of hundreds of billions of euro every year. When one asks why we have a housing crisis, a health crisis or growing poverty and inequality, the answer is that the wealthiest multinationals in the world do not believe in paying taxes, pay accountants to avoid paying them systematically and have certain governments, including ours, in their pockets to ensure that they get away with tax avoidance.

This is happening belatedly and under pressure from the people, not the European Commission. People were angry at what happened in the recession, including the austerity and culpability of large corporate entities for it. They have demanded that there be some transparency and action in order to deal with corporate tax avoidance by the multinationals. In public statements, the Irish political establishment has claimed to be in favour of these measures but at its first opportunity to implement measures that would shine a light on the multinationals' massive systematic tax avoidance, it has moved to block them, cover up the situation and prevent a debate in the House. Similarly, the cameras at the finance committee were turned off for our discussion on whether to have Apple attend to explain its tax affairs in this country. That is the level of the collusion by the political establishment.

The media is asleep at the wheel. This is the most important topic that has been discussed in the Dáil this week, yet it is the shortest debate. We would not even have had a debate but for the fact that we raised the matter. We are discussing billions of euro, yet there was not even going to be a debate. The establishment will now close ranks and push this through on a technicality in order to block a reform measure on what is the most important of areas.

There is a direct correlation between poverty, unemployment, the crisis in our public services and growing inequality globally and the ongoing practice of multinationals in this matter. The Irish political establishment has closed ranks, shut down debate, covered up the situation and colluded with people. It is outrageous. Thanks to the oversight of the left in this country, some alarm bells are being rung about the issue, there will be a vote and there has been some debate, albeit a ridiculously short-circuited one.

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