Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In the past 20 years, the Taoiseach of the day has asked the Office of the Ceann Comhairle to recall the Dáil on only a handful of occasions, namely, to discuss the attacks on 9 September 2001, the war in Iraq in 2003 and the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank in 2009. The decision of the European Commission last week is as important to the country's future as any of these issues. I thank the Ceann Comhairle and his office and staff for facilitating this debate. In particular, I thank the staff of the Office of Public Works who, in a short time, transformed the Chamber from a building site to what we have today.

The Taoiseach's request to the Ceann Comhairle to recall the Dáil from recess highlights the importance to the State of the European Commission's decision that Ireland provided unlawful state aid to Apple. In making its decision, the Commission has decided to ignore the detailed case made by Ireland and disregard the steps being taken at international level by countries, including Ireland, in the area of global tax reform. It has alleged that Ireland and our tax authorities did something that was wrong and contrary to European Union competition rules in our dealings with Apple. The allegations are unsupported by any evidence of substance. The ruling is contrary to the EU treaties and a clear trespass into an area that is the responsibility of the member states, rather than the European Commission. The decision is unlikely to survive scrutiny in any court of law and must be challenged for this reason.

The Commission has instructed Ireland to recover €13 billion plus interest from Apple. This would mean that the worldwide profits for the Apple sales companies concerned, including intellectual property developed in the United States, would be taxed in Ireland. This is a serious departure from normal international best practice on taxation policies. The Commission also stated that the sum to be recovered by Ireland could be reduced if other countries were to require Apple to pay more tax or if the US authorities required Apple to pay larger sums to their US parent company. The result of this is that while the Revenue Commissioners may be tasked with collecting the money, even if the Commission's decision were to survive an appeal, it is highly likely that a number of countries would seek to recover their fair share.

The Commission's decision ignores the EU treaty provisions which confirm that taxation is a matter for each member state.

The move calls into question the Commission's attitude towards the sovereignty of member states, especially smaller member states. In doing so, it is playing into the hands of those who cheered the Brexit result. The action of the Commission in this case will no doubt be used by those who want to undermine and destroy the EU. They will claim it is an example of an EU power grab at the expense of nation states. Protecting the core principle of the treaties that govern the European Union is alone a valid reason to appeal the decision.

The Commission's decision has used competition rules to target our Revenue Commissioners and taxation policy, including our 12.5% corporation tax rate. There is no doubt that in some offices in Europe there is resentment towards the success of our small country in attracting foreign direct investment. The 12.5% corporation tax rate has been the bedrock of our policy in this area and has been a target for a number of years by those who begrudge our success. The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg have all appealed Commission decisions under state aid rules on tax issues. Like these other small countries, Ireland must make this appeal to protect the way the IDA Ireland attracts foreign direct investment, to secure our 12.5% corporation tax rate and to provide tax certainty for our potential future and existing investors.

The Commission has ignored the impact the decision could have on the wider Irish economy. As a country, we are slowly recovering from an economic crisis that included widespread job losses and unacceptably high levels of unemployment. Thanks to initiatives such as the Action Plan for Jobs we have seen unemployment fall significantly recent years. Failure to appeal this decision could create uncertainty that would have a negative impact on our businesses and investments in the economy in future.

Today we can see the political divide more clearly than we have ever seen it in this Parliament before. Some Members would like to think this is a lotto win that we can spend on any number of things that we should be spending money on. Indeed, we are spending money on these things but it is not a lotto win. Like the description of fool's gold, it is not there for us to spend. The position of the poisoned chalice the Commission has handed down to us could hamper the fragile recovery we are going through at the moment as well as the ambitions we have for our future.

I am asking the House to support the motion today because I believe it makes a clear statement to the European Commission and the wider audience that taxation matters are for member states under existing EU treaties and that we intend to exercise our power by protecting our 12.5% corporation tax, our research and development tax credit and our knowledge box development arrangements. Ireland may be a small member state of the EU but it is a full member state of the EU and, as such, the country is entitled to protect our rights under the EU treaties and develop taxation policies that help economic growth and job creation. That is the fundamental task we are going to face.

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