Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Socialist Party, the Anti-Austerity Alliance and People Before Profit are under no illusions regarding the European Union but it is hilarious to hear people on the other side of the House talking about a completely different EU to the one they spoke about a month ago. They are now talking about its lack of democracy. It seems that the European Union is okay when it is inflicting austerity on the general populace but it is not okay when it has a lash at a multinational corporation.

We have heard a number of defences of the Government's decision to pursue an appeal against the judgment. The Government is to set up an inquiry into our corporation tax regime. Laughably, that inquiry will not question the actual corporation tax rate. The latter will be the subject of a cordon sanitaire. The usual suspects of accountants and establishment insiders will conduct this inquiry, not ordinary workers, trade unions or community representatives. This is a very poor return from the presence of the Independents in government and shows that people can only rely on the left for a real challenge to this sort of policy.

We have also heard scaremongering about job losses. The multinational sector provides 10% of employment in this country. It is not only multinational jobs that have a multiplier effect; so too do public sector jobs and other jobs in the private sector. It is not the case that there is a threat to those jobs because the multinationals are making vast profits here on the basis of current policy. They will not leave on that basis. If they do leave, it will show that they have no social commitment to this country in the first instance and are not a reliable basis for our industrial policy.

I wish to address the key idea that has emerged to the effect that the money is not ours or that we would get very little of it because it belongs to others. First, Revenue follows the orders of Government - please give us a break in that regard. Revenue does not make these decisions but implements Government policies. The Irish Government knew that Apple was avoiding paying taxes in other countries and was shifting vast sums of money into this country. Apple was, as Joseph Stiglitz has said, "pretending that the money, the profits, the billions and billions of profits it was making were really being originated in some Irish company that was registered in cyberspace ... that is a ruse, that is an attempt at tax evasion, tax avoidance, whatever you want to call it". That lies at the heart of this matter. It is like allowing one's house to be used for a crime and then pleading innocence. The chickens are now coming home to roost for Irish corporate tax policy. If it emerges that ordinary workers and unemployed people in Europe are being fleeced by this policy, then I also have a problem with that. It is not the case that we only care about citizens in this country.

The Anti-Austerity Alliance does not support the defence of our 12.5% corporation tax rate. It is clearly not being paid in any event and is a work of fiction.

The rates should be substantially increased. The rate was substantially decreased over the years. Tomorrow, Dublin Bus workers have to miss a day's pay, and the days after, while striking for a living wage. In 1970 the proportion of GDP ascribed to wages was 66%. Today the figure is 44%. This is because of corporate tax policy and having as little tax as possible on the rich and wealthy. Why should multinationals not pay similar tax rates to workers? A discussion around that is needed in society. If one stands over low corporation tax policy one stands over growing inequality in the world. Oxfam reports that the top 50 multinational companies hoard cash in tax havens to the tune of $1.24 trillion. Can one imagine what could be done with that wealth if it was invested and if it was owned and controlled by those people who create and toil to produce the wealth, not the likes of Tim Cook, Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg - one would think they had personally toiled in the iPad factories the way we hear some people talk. Of course, it is the very exploited and low-paid workers who do that work. There is potential for that wealth if it was owned and controlled by the people who produce it. For example, $100 billion is lost by the poorest countries because of tax evasion. That could provide drinking water for 2.2 billion people. Apple is top of this list. It is the top company, sitting on $180 billion of non-invested dollars. What type of society is that? This is why we had the Occupy movement, the movement against globalisation and the anti-austerity movement around Europe.

Deputy Martin attacked the idea of socialism or any other alternative. We have heard James Connolly much quoted today, including by the Labour Party. James Connolly said socialism is indeed worthy to be entitled the great anti-theft movement of the 20th century - as it is of the 21st century - because it means, as he said, a proposal to establish honesty once and forever as the basis of our social relations. It is the only alternative to the robbery of the poor and of workers that is taking place throughout Europe because of these multinationals.

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