Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Butter would not melt in the Minister's mouth. These companies are simply super-productive and it is all down to the workers. That is not true and the Minister knows it. I am defensive of those workers who work in multinational corporations. I am defensive of their terms and conditions and I am defensive of their ability to be productive, but I do not buy the idea that they are 16 times more productive than workers in indigenous companies. What that statistic reveals is the extent of corporate profit shifting being carried on through intellectual property and intangible assets. Google paid corporate tax at a rate of 0.14% between 2005 and 2011, Starbucks paid €45 in tax in 2015 and Apple Sales International paid tax at a rate of 0.005% in 2014. Ireland is a driving factor of inequality around the world which means that 82% of the wealth generated internationally last year went to the richest 1%. A key factor in that is corporate tax rates going, on average, from 49% in 1984 to 24% in 2018. It is not sustainable in the context of Trump or Brexit and a different model is needed.

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