Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for her reply. I am very glad to see the Government is taking this seriously. We could be looking at missed taxes to the Irish State to the tune of €1 billion to €2 billion a year, or even more. If it is €1 billion a year, that equates to some €20 million a week in missed taxes. The section 110 structures were set up for a legitimate reason in 1997 under the Taxes Consolidation Act. They are now being used by nearly all of the vulture funds to take profits generated in Ireland and, very frustratingly, to take profits generated in Ireland by ordinary, decent families trying to pay their way out of negative equity and distressed mortgages. Section 110 was never intended to be used to pull Irish-generated profits out of the country. This is happening on a scale that is potentially worth tens of billions of euro.

I acknowledge what the Tánaiste said about the Revenue Commissioners. Will she come back to the House on this issue as a matter of urgency, ideally before the recess? What we should be doing in the finance Bill which is coming up with the budget, or even before that, is shutting this down.

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