Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I listened intently to the debate over the past few hours and wish to make a few points and ask a few questions given the short period of time I have. The Labour Party will, obviously, do the right thing. We will support the motion but we will also put forward our amendment, as has been outlined by my colleagues. We will not take the populist line but will do what is right for the country.

However, we cannot deny that this is a very difficult topic to explain to the ordinary man or woman in the street and many business people, be they in Tipperary, Cork or elsewhere. I was very taken by a comment by Richard Jacob of the Idaho Café in Cork who claimed that last year, he paid more tax than Starbucks. The detail is one thing but the fact that it was symbolic to many people showed how the public is thinking about this.

With some exceptions, the response from the Government was slow. It was not prepared. I say that as a former Minister who sat beside a number of Ministers who are sitting opposite. We were talking about this for a number of years while I was sitting at Cabinet. It was incredible that nobody appeared until nearly 6 p.m. on the day. We are shooting in the dark today because we do not have the detail, which we need to discuss. We need to publish this with redacted areas. We must be responsible in respect of Ireland's reputation; the foreign direct investment that is so critical, be it in my county, the pharmaceutical industry in Clonmel or FINTEC in Nenagh; and the role of the Revenue Commissioners and what they did without fear or favour down through the years. We must ensure this is protected. We must also ensure that everyone is treated in the same way from a taxation perspective.

The Directorate General for Competition has done European citizens much service in respect of Open Skies policies and fines relating to cartels but I believe there is a change in policy within the Commission, a point on which I will focus. I believe politics in the European system must be based around the European Parliament, of which I was a Member, and the European Council. The issue now is that it is coming very much from the Commission. This is a major issue for the future of the EU because it will have a huge impact on its future, particularly in light of the way it treats small countries, which is becoming a story. We must call this for what it is. This is an effort to go after our country and our corporation tax rate through the back door. We must ensure that we fight this and protect what has been a very significant and successful policy. This is not really about state aid. This is a methodology for trying to get at our corporation tax rate. I raised this with the Commission when I was an MEP. It assured me that when there were proposals for a common consolidated corporate tax base, CCCTB, the treaties, including the Lisbon treaty, protected us; that the Council would make the decision; that if the CCCTB was introduced, companies could choose, where certain requirements were fulfilled, between national rules and the CCCTB; and that it would operate in parallel with subsidiarity and local corporate tax rates. Unfortunately, in the recent past, this has changed. Anyone who wants to see how the Commission responded to me can look up its answer to me on 22 March 2010. I raised it on numerous occasions.

This must be a wake-up call to this Government and this country. I welcome the fact that the Minister for Finance intends to close the loophole relating to section 110 but the issue here is the need to guarantee that it will work so we will not know until the Minister publishes the detail. We need a minimum effective tax rate when it comes to all taxes, particularly corporation tax. I also support the idea of setting up a standing independent commission in order that we can continuously deal with this issue because it is one that changes all the time so it is very important that we deal with the anomalies.

I will conclude by asking a number of questions that I hope the Ministers opposite will bring to the Minister responsible. Has Commissioner Vestager repeatedly made it clear in correspondence to the Government that this decision has nothing to do with the 12.5% rate of corporation tax? Has that been put in writing? Was the Department well aware of the potential for an adverse fiscal State aid ruling against Ireland when it was decided to intervene in the case of Banco Santander and Autogrill that is currently before the European Court of Justice? The recent opinion of the advocate general in these cases supports the Commission and is negative to the view espoused by Ireland. The judgment in these cases, due around the end of this year, will have a decisive influence on the outcome of an appeal in the Apple case. I would very much appreciate it if the Ministers could ask the Minister for Finance to comment on those issues. The details are critical to this debate.

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