Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to place my contribution in the context of the Irish Aid programme. Last night, I was at the launch of the 2017 Irish Aid report which the Tánaiste Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, launched in the EPIC centre in central Dublin. Irish Aid is rightly recognised as one of the best of such programmes. It is untied and targeted, and it is focused on poverty reduction. We have our partner countries but we also support a number of other countries in the global south and the developing world. The support is given to groups to take people out of poverty and get them into education and to look at food production or health, etc. Whether through the missionaries, the NGOs or our embassies, it works with local people to empower them. Irish Aid is effective and is making a difference. Irish Aid has to do itself out of a job to continue making that difference. One of the ways to do that is to empower people in these countries to trade, ethically and in a fair way, and to raise and collect taxes through tax treaties.

That brings us onto the principle of tax justice. There are concerns about ratifying this agreement because it has the potential to unfairly deprive developing countries of those taxing rights that are vital in reducing aid dependency, which is part of Irish Aid's strategy. It also has the potential to open up opportunities for profit shifting and tax avoidance. While Ghana is progressing to becoming a middle-income country, it is vulnerable on social issues and poverty. Ghana wants to do business with Ireland because Ghana trusts Ireland. Our foreign direct investment is important to the country. It trusts us because of that untied aid and our aid programme. Are we repaying that trust in the debate we are having tonight? Christian Aid is one of the organisations bringing these concerns to us. Why is the treaty being ratified before it is amended to provide basic anti-abuse protections? There are serious concerns that the treaty lacks the minimum level of protection against treaty abuse, yet the Minister of State says that Ireland is committed to ensuring that all our tax treaties meet minimum standards agreed in the BEPS process. I will highlight one particular example. The rate of withholding tax on royalties is 8% for Ghana and 20% for Ireland.

I acknowledge the Minister of State said that Ghana has been written to in order to propose adding the BEPS anti-abuse provisions in a protocol to the treaty in the future, but why not delay signing the treaty until we have it? We are talking about policy coherence. The tax treaties in which our country is involved should complement our Irish Aid programme. We are signed up to the sustainable development goals. Their motto is: "Leave no one behind". The Minister of State said that he does not want to see this as a bad deal for Ghana. Are we sure that it is the best deal for Ghana?

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