Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the amendment and endorse Deputy Donnelly's comments, but I will go further on a point that is not covered by the amendment but is connected to it. It relates to section 110 generally. I do not fully understand the mechanism through which these companies have avoided significant amounts of tax or even how much they have avoided, but we need to know the details. What else is happening in the wider section 110?

I will cite the Matheson document regarding something that I will have to pursue at other times in the Chamber, namely, aircraft leasing and how companies can still benefit from section 110. The attempt to clamp down on a particular area of property is not applied to other areas. The size of it is staggering. I did not know about this stuff; I am reading from Matheson's document. It reads:

Over EUR 83 billion of aircraft assets are under management in Ireland.

7 out of top 10 aircraft lessors have operations in Ireland.

Half of the world's leased fleet of commercial aircraft are leased or managed through Ireland.

That is enormous. The front of the document reads:

Attractive tax environment

Ireland offers a very attractive tax environment in which to carry on aviation leasing and financing business:

Access to a wide double tax treaty network (over 69 signed treaties)

A standard corporation tax rate of 12.5%

No withholding tax on lease rental payments

Straight-line tax depreciation of 12.5% over eight years

0% VAT on international aviation leasing

No stamp duty or transfer taxes on the transfer of aircraft or aircraft parts

Wide exemptions from withholding tax on interest and dividends

Availability of flexible securitisation regime for holding aircraft and receivables

This is like a menu of tax avoidance that is possible in a massive sector based in Ireland. A significant part of it turns on section 110. I want to know more about this issue and the public is entitled to know more, given the fact that we are discussing €83 billion in assets and a large industry, about how much profit is being generated, how much tax is being forgone as a result of the use of section 110 and what actual employment benefit we are getting in that specific sector.

We need to have facts on this and on the effectiveness or otherwise of the effort the Minister has made to close down one aspect of this tax loophole. We need proper, easily understandable and digestible, straightforward information in order to be able to assess whether, as I suspect is the case, this is an enormous tax loophole whereby billions are being siphoned out of the tax system by the people investing in these areas and using these mechanisms.

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