Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I said that it is not anti-jobs to raise issues regarding corporation tax and the first thing the Minister did was to accuse us of being anti-jobs. That is the problem. That is the kind of thing that says, in effect, that we should keep quiet and not raise issues.

The vast majority of companies in this State, including multinational companies, pay their fair share of tax in terms of the 12.5% rate, but the issues on which I focused relate to companies that do not pay, who pay as little as 1% or 0%, or as little as €250, as we discussed in the finance committee in terms of section 110 companies. That is the problem and that is why I say to the Minister that when he deliberately puts that into the tax code what he is doing is pimping out this country to those companies and allowing them to use and abuse our tax code and pay little or no tax. The Minister might stand for that but I will not. I believe that is completely and utterly wrong. I do have my suspicions on intangible assets and what the Government has done.

In terms of the great work the previous Government did on stateless companies and the double Irish, the Minister should pull the other one. We had to drag the Government kicking and screaming into the light regarding that. The point I am making, and this is an issue relating to jobs, is that companies are starting to wake up internationally to this and they do not like to invest in a country that has a cloud hanging over it or where there is a smell about some type of tax avoidance scam going on and the Government is facilitating it. We have got ourselves in hot water. By "we" I mean the Government, because of Apple and state aid issues. I believe it is not over at that and that we got ourselves in more hot water because we did not collect the money for the escrow account. What is patriotic and what will defend jobs in the future and put us on a solid footing is for us to deal with a minority of issues but ones that have a big effect. Let us clean up our back yard and stop pretending that everything is okay just like the Minister's predecessor did when I put it up to him about stateless companies, section 110 companies and the double Irish. On all three occasions the Minister had to come into the light but it was done after being kicked and dragged there.

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