Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have not agreed at all that the arguments in the Oxfam paper are accurate. What I have said is I am inviting Oxfam to meet my officials so the details of its case can be discussed. For example, Mr. Seamus Coffey, the academic from UCC who is now chairman of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, carried out some work for the Department two years ago, effectively to establish if there was a differential between the standard 12.5% rate and the rate paid by companies. His technical paper found the effective tax rate paid by companies was somewhere between 10.3% and 10.7% against the nominal rate of 12.5%. This is the most recent academic research I have available to me. I am not agreeing with the Oxfam data but I know its source and some of it has been misinterpreted. Oxfam may have insights to bring to bear on this so my officials will meet it.

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