Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Táim buíoch as an deis labhairt ar an rún agus ar na leasuithe tábhachtacha atá os comhair na Dála inniu agus mo thacaíocht a thabhairt do leasú Uimh. 1 in ainmneacha Theachtaí Shinn Féin. We are here to discuss very important issues, but we do so without Teachtaí Dála having access to the full ruling of the Commission. We also do so after the Fine Gael Party and the Independent Alliance, aided and abetted by the Labour Party and the Fianna Fáil Party, have already decided to appeal the Apple ruling. This means that today’s debate has a predetermined outcome. All of us, including the Independent Alliance, know this. They presented themselves at the last election as independents in opposition to the Fine Gael Party and the Fianna Fáil Party and the Labour Party. They railed against the actions of those parties, but where do they stand today? With those very same parties. On another day their voices would have been raised in anger in this Chamber at the disgraceful decision of the Government, and at the decades of cronyism and corruption on the part of the establishment parties which created this mess, but not today. Today, they seek to defend the indefensible, and they know it.

We are here to debate a decision that the establishment parties and the Independent Alliance have already rubber-stamped, with the Government pretending that it is all about the 12.5% corporation tax rate. So much for the claim that the last election saw the emergence of new politics. Féach ar an Dáil díreach roimh shos an tsamhraidh. It was more of the same with the Fianna Fáil Party voting with the Fine Gael Party and against proposals to scrap water charges, provide for rent certainty, provide for banded hours contracts for workers and to deal with the issue of bin charge hikes. New politics, same old story. The issues raised by the Apple deal with successive Governments go to the very core of the Government’s attitude to citizens, to public services, tax justice here and internationally, fairness for our business sector, and to corporate social responsibility. They are issues on which Sinn Féin has taken a stand consistently, only to be castigated by the political establishment of the Fine Gael Party, the Fianna Fáil Party and the Labour Party whenever we raised the issue of tax avoidance by large multinational corporations.

Sinn Féin believes firmly in tax fairness. That means that every person and every company pays their fair share of tax.

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