Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am keen to hear from the Taoiseach whether he discussed the issue of corporation tax and corporation tax rates on this island with the First Minister, Arlene Foster, and, for that matter, the deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness. With the support of all the parties in the Executive, the Northern Ireland Assembly has, under the Fresh Start agreement, been granted by Westminster the right to reduce its corporation tax, with the proviso that any reduction has to be matched with corresponding reductions in public expenditure. One could argue that the targeted reduction in public service numbers of 20,000 agreed by the Executive parties forms a major part of this expenditure reduction. A quarter of the target - 5,000 public servants - has already been taken out of the system, with resultant strains on public services. Have the Taoiseach and the First Minister been given pause for thought by a number of external events that glaringly place a question mark over the strategy of low corporation tax as a route to economic development?

To be specific, the UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, has been flagging for some time that corporation tax would be reduced across the UK and yesterday confirmed her objective that, tied in with Brexit, it would have the lowest corporation tax in the G20. The announcement by Donald Trump of a reduction in corporation tax to 15% is well documented. Last week, the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, announced that it would be reducing corporation tax to 9%. The multinationals must be laughing all the way to the bank at this carry-on, but for the people on the island of Ireland it is not a laughing matter. This is a race to the bottom that cannot be won. The very attempt of trying to win it comes at a massive cost to society in terms of revenues forgone that could have be spent on public services and public service workers. A different strategy is needed that is based on State investment in job creation. Did the Taoiseach discuss the future of corporation tax rates on this island and the futility of this race to the bottom with the First Minister?

See this speech in context