Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The collective stance of Ministers, Fine Gael Members of this Dáil, their Fianna Fáil prop-you-ups and the so-called Independent members of the Cabinet - who could aptly be referred to as the Apple crumbles of this grand coalition - today in this Chamber is a sham, as is their proposition to not only turn up their noses at a €13 billion back-tax windfall, but to set a course to spend already secured public taxes on a case in opposition to our Exchequer receiving its due entitlement from one of the world's most successful and wealthiest companies. Today we heard many voices saying that we will not be able to do this or that in what I regard as a limp effort to justify their voting intentions here this evening. There is no certainty as to what can or cannot be done but €13 billion would make a difference, no matter how it were employed.

Others have worked up a lather over our sovereignty and the views expressed by some Deputies in this area have come as a real surprise to me. Let there be no mistake about it. There are no voices more concerned about the sovereignty of the Irish people - all of the Irish people - than the Sinn Féin voices in this Chamber and chambers across this island. There are no voices more aware of the importance of domestic control over our tax affairs, including in the setting of our corporation tax rates. Those tax rates should mean what they say on the tin and should apply equally to the contents of the Apple box as to any other supposedly similarly taxed product range. The European Commission has not exposed something that was not already known by many here at home and by others in interested quarters. The Commission has merely shone a light on the extent of the evasion involved in this case. Evasion it is and those we entrust, the Government included, are complicit in this illegal act. So, set the Granny Smith's aside, it is time to take a bite out of a very different apple.

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