Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the matter of the Paradise Papers and the information which has emerged in regard to Apple's tax arrangements, the facilitation of these arrangements by successive Irish Governments and the considerably negative impact this is having on Ireland's reputation. The central theme running through the Paradise Papers is the relentless quest of the wealthy and powerful, the great and the good, to find ways of avoiding paying tax. We saw this most starkly in the operation of the double Irish and its use by Apple and the subsequent ruling by the European Commission that this favourable treatment constituted state aid. In that regard, it certainly seemed that the facilitation of tax avoidance was an intentional strategy adopted by the Government and its agencies in 1991 and updated in 2007.

It is very hard to understand why the Government, in September of last year, with the full benefit of hindsight, stood over the manner in which the sweetheart deals were done and vouched for their full compliance with the law. The public cannot understand why the Government is now spending considerable additional millions of euro on appealing the European Commission ruling.

The position of the then Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, was very hard to understand. In 2013, he signalled that he intended to close down the double Irish on which the tax avoidance arrangement is based. The impact of this was considerable for Apple's tax liability. We know there was much engagement between Apple and the Department of Finance around this time. We also know, thanks to the Paradise Papers, that Apple went on a jurisdiction shopping spree in search of another tax-dodging deal, and that following the closing of the double Irish, Apple restructured its companies. It registered two of its Cork companies in Jersey and took up tax residency in Ireland for its remaining Cork company, Apple Operations Europe. This, combined with the changes made to the capital allowance regime in 2014, allowed Apple to sell its intellectual property back to the Irish-registered company and avail of the massive tax breaks which this measure facilitated.

Was our capital allowance regime changed to allow Apple to keep its formerly stateless profits entirely untaxed? In other words, was it done to compensate Apple for the loss of the double Irish? Had Apple, or its representatives, requested a change to the capital allowances regime? How much has Apple benefited by this change and how much has the State lost?

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