Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That has been our consistent position. Tax revenues are the means by which public services are funded, by which we pay for social protections, which the Labour Party abandoned decades ago, and from which infrastructure is developed. In Sinn Féin’s view, the record of successive Governments on investing citizens’ taxes to build a fair society is shamefully disastrous, but the principle stands. Taxes are needed to pay for the betterment of citizens’ lives and their services. Ag an am céanna, tá gá ann go mbeadh cáin réasúnta agus cóir. There cannot be one set of rules for some and different rules for others. Small and medium enterprises are the backbone of our economy. We have all worked with small businesses that are under huge threat because of the penalties imposed on them by the Government, and households weighed down by Government tax policies, while one very large company pays less than 1% corporation tax.

The recent finding by the European Commission that the State has facilitated Apple in engaging in just such a practice should surprise no one. The ruling confirms the concerns Sinn Féin has raised regularly in this Chamber and which I have raised consistently with the Taoiseach. Deputy Pearse Doherty has alerted the Dáil on many occasions to the malpractices that favour multinationals. His concerns were dismissed by the Fianna Fáil Party, the Fine Gael Party, the Minister for Finance and the Taoiseach. Thug Airí, agus an Taoiseach san áireamh, neamhaird ar imní Shinn Féin i ngach cás.

The Fine Gael Party , in cahoots with the Fianna Fáil Party, the Labour Party and the Independent Alliance, have decided not to collect the €13 billion, plus interest, in unpaid taxes owed to the citizens of this State. What is a few billion among friends? After all, we are the best small country in the world in which to do business. That is what is important, not housing the homeless or minding the elderly, not mol an óige, and not opening up education for all or regenerating disadvantaged urban communities or rural Ireland. That is not the priority. This motion and the Fianna Fáil and Labour parties' support for it is proof of that. I cannot think of language strong enough for it. It is a mark of the hypocrisy, corruption and duplicity of a political class that hounds citizens who take a stand against water charges, that burdens struggling families with an unjust family home tax and that bowed to the elites of the EU when people’s interests were at stake. Now they tell us they will take a stand against the EU. The Taoiseach tells the Dáil today that we do not offer special favours or deals on tax. The Fianna Fáil Party leader echoes this assertion. It has as much credibility as a heap of horse manure. Seo iad na páirtithe a thug chuireadh don troika agus a chuir dualgas ar na daoine íoc as an gcóras baincéireachta. These are the parties that imposed water charges, introduced a family home tax, cut acute hospital beds, created the crisis in our emergency departments, voted against rent certainty, failed, and continue to fail, to tackle the housing and homelessness crisis, and who imposed austerity on families, on the elderly and on communities which could least afford it. The Taoiseach has consistently refused to stand up to the EU elites. His protestations, like his policies, have no credibility whatsoever.

Sinn Féin has been and is critical of the European Commission, the EU’s institutions and their interference in our domestic affairs. Like all democrats and genuine republicans, Sinn Féin wants a different kind of European Union. We want meaningful reform and restructuring of the EU, the decentralisation of power, the promotion of democracy and real sovereignty, economic and social justice, and the construction of a social Europe.

The EU Commission's judgment is one example of a case where they have ruled in accordance with these objectives and the Government should acknowledge that. Instead, Government Ministers have been scurrying around trying to portray the ruling as a question of tax sovereignty and an attempt to undermine our corporation tax rate.Even their former party and Cabinet colleague, Phil Hogan, rejects this. He says, "This decision has nothing to do with taxation, nothing to do with corporate tax rates, it has to do with state aid rules".

The Minister for Finance has sought to present himself in Churchillian tones as the defender of the nation who will fight in defence of the State's tax structures at home, abroad and in the courts. The fact is that the European ruling has nothing to do with either our corporation tax rate or tax sovereignty. The Commission has not sought to change our 12.5% rate of corporation tax. The Government, Fianna Fáil and Labour know this. Any attempt to portray this as an issue of sovereignty is merely a smoke-screen stoked up by those who have actually spent the past 40 years handing over our sovereignty to the European institutions. Now, faced with the chance to actually stand up for Ireland’s interests, they have again decided to act against the welfare and interests of citizens by siding with corporate interests. Imagine an Irish Government which is willing, with the support of the so-called Opposition, to hand €13 billion to a company whose annual revenues are 25% more than the State’s entire GDP. One could not make it up. Flann O'Brien at his most articulate could not have written this story.

Claims by the Government that the Apple ruling will damage our ability to secure foreign direct investment and that it creates tax uncertainty for international companies are equally untrue. Martin Shanahan of IDA Ireland said in recent days, “This does not call into question Ireland's tax regime and it does not call into question Ireland’s tax rate." He added, “this process has been going on for three years ... It hasn’t caused investors any concern to date ... The investors I’ve spoken to over the last week really believe that this isn’t something that’s going to impact on them.” He is the guy on the front line. The Government, in order to try to whip up public support for its quisling position, rejects this view.

Sinn Féin believes in a strong enterprise sector. We want to see a thriving economy, where domestic businesses are supported and encouraged to expand and prosper. We also want to see a vibrant foreign direct investment sector operating across the island, providing employment, contributing to economic growth and paying their fair share of taxes. We want companies like Apple in Ireland. Apple employs thousands of citizens. I welcome the Apple CEO Tim Cook’s comments that the company will continue investing and growing its operations here. The people of Cork in particular, where Apple is one of the biggest employers, appreciate the company's presence there for over 35 years. This does not mean turning a blind eye to tax evasion or avoidance. It means providing companies with an environment in which they can operate to the best of their ability and potential but it also means ensuring that they robustly fulfil their social responsibilities to the State and its citizens.

This is about tax justice and fairness. Indigenous companies are given no special deals or favours, nor were the self-employed, low-paid workers, pensioners or those struggling to make ends meet. We know from the 2013 hearing in the US Senate that Apple’s head of tax policy, Mr. Phillip Bullock, said there was a tax agreement with Ireland which amounted to a maximum of approximately 2%. When this was put to Mr. Cook at the hearing he said Apple had a tax incentive agreement with Ireland. In 2014, Apple’s tax rate was 0.005%, which is about €50 for every €1 million in profits. There has been no explanation offered by Fine Gael, Labour or Fianna Fáil supporters of how this could be the case. The former Minister - perhaps one of the longest-serving former Ministers here - Deputy Martin, has given no explanation for this. It also happened on his watch. The fact is there was an institutionalised facilitation of tax avoidance. Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Labour’s protestations make a mockery of our 12.5% corporation tax rate. Is airgead é seo a bhféadfaí caitheamh ar sheirbhísí poiblí ar nós cúrsaí títhíochta.

The line spun by the Government is that one of the principal reasons it is to appeal the Commission's ruling is because of concerns that our international reputation will be damaged. Our international reputation has already been damaged. Around the world we are being branded a tax haven for corporations. In 2012, the Taoiseach told the Dáil that he would not face his EU counterparts with "defaulter" stamped on his forehead. It seems he would prefer to face them with "tax evader" stamped across it instead.

Tax avoidance or evasion by multinational companies, aided by governments, is not a victimless crime. Save the Children estimates that $78 billion is lost annually in tax avoidance in the 75 countries in which most of the world’s child and maternal mortality occurs.

See this speech in context