Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As much as the two MEPs who came before the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach did not want to acknowledge it, they had to acknowledge that Ireland has a veto on this issue. Even if President Juncker got his way and tried to implement qualified majority voting, we would still have a veto on the decision about whether we move to that point. Will the Minister confirm to the Dáil this evening that he will use the veto on the issue of CCCTB if necessary if a proposal is tabled? We also have a French-led proposal on digital taxation which is coming down the road in the future. It all points to a concentrated campaign that we need to mount. There is no doubt, whatever the Minister wants to say, that he has left himself wide open with the way that he treats multinationals. The issue he introduced in the Finance Act about not dealing with intangible assets that have been onshored and that will be claimed in future years is another example of that. People are not stupid anymore. As I told the Minister, the winds of change are blowing hard. The Minister has left Ireland in a vulnerable position. We also hear that officials in the Department have been instructed by the Taoiseach to say nothing at the meetings. These are the meetings where much of the horse-trading and wheeling and dealing takes place. Is it the case that this is the direction the Minister, his Department or indeed the Taoiseach has given to the officials representing our countries at those meetings?

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