Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

It is amazing.

It is strange that Tim Cook's name cannot be mentioned. It is a little odd. Perhaps it is symptomatic, or just an office thing, but there is a fear of and deference shown to Tim Cook, Apple and similar corporations which I find extraordinary, with the access they enjoy. The Taoiseach and I disagree on Ireland's role in tax avoidance by Apple, but one thing is beyond dispute or doubt - Apple is an aggressive tax avoider which uses, exploits and abuses loopholes, whether it be in the Isle of Man, on the Cayman Island or here to evade tax. I find it odd that we do not challenge it about it, or, specifically, that the Taoiseach does not do so. Instead, we roll out the red carpet; it is given extraordinary access and there is no statement from the Taoiseach to say we think Apple should pay its taxes and that it is unconscionable one of the richest corporations in the world pays less than 2% in tax. How can that be anything other than obscene? When the Taoiseach met Mr. Cook, did he mention the extraordinary housing crisis in this country and the massive deficit in investment in water infrastructure, two issues which should be of importance to him, as well as the €110 million deficit in the public health service? In that context, did he perhaps reconsider, with Mr. Cook, whether it was a good idea to engage in a legal action to try to prevent the €13 billion from being paid into the Exchequer in taxes the European Union believed Apple owed to this country? Do the huge deficits in housing and infrastructure provision not give the Taoiseach and Mr. Cook cause for thought?

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