Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On the cap of the intellectual property that will be written off against profits at 80%, unfortunately, over the past several years, we have seen hundreds of billions of euro worth of intellectual property in the State onshored.

The 2018 tax strategy paper shows that claims for capital allowances for intangible assets increased from €2.7 billion in 2014 to almost €29 billion in 2015 due to the onshoring of intellectual property by multinational companies. Sinn Féin tabled an amendment to try to capture some of that by making the measure retrospectively effective but, unfortunately, it was ruled out of order. Given the amount of money in question, it is regrettable the measure is only applicable from midnight. The Government needs to examine whether any of that money could be recouped.

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