Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The past eight years have seen harsh austerity, cutbacks in basic services, a housing crisis and increased job insecurity. In my constituency of Laois and the Monasterevin area of Kildare, the housing list has reached an all-time high of 1,700 households in Laois and 620 in Monasterevin and Kildangan, which is just a small corner of Kildare. Portlaoise regional hospital is chronically underfunded with services such as the emergency department running the risk of closure. Mountmellick, Shaen and Abbeyleix nursing hospitals have struggled due to lack of investment. In the case of Abbeyleix and Shaen, they were under threat of closure. If one takes employment, of which we have heard much, it has been retarded due to the absence of broadband and investment in infrastructure. I could go on but money for vital services and infrastructure is needed.

Here we are debating a proposal from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party proposing that we waste public money fighting a case in the European courts to justify the facilitation of tax evasion by conservative Governments over the past two decades. That successive Governments turned a blind eye to tax evasion is bad enough but now the Government wants to waste taxpayers' money defending it. It is shameful. We have heard all the bogus arguments being trotted out such as tax certainty. What is being done creates the opposite to tax certainty because the Government is saying it is trying to defend a position where rules can be changed for different people and a blind eye can be turned for different companies. The idea of threats to the 12.5% corporation tax rate is rubbish. Everyone knows that is a national competency. Some 95% of the Deputies in this House support the 12.5% rate, as does Sinn Féin. We have been solidly behind it and we do not want it changed. It is there across the board. That we become an international tax collector is another load of nonsense. We are not being asked to do that. The companies concerned are incorporated here in the State not anywhere else. The tax is due here. Other dubious reasons have been thrown out. The double standards in how Irish businesses and some of these multinationals have been treated is there to see. The double standards with the PAYE workers are obvious and I do not need to list them. The right thing to do is to ensure that we collect the 2.5% and the 12.5% from all companies on their profits. That is the reasonable and fair thing to do. All the tax loopholes and tax avoidance schemes should be closed. If Apple wants to go to the European court, let it do so but do not waste taxpayers' money and whatever is left of the credibility of the State to do that.

See this speech in context