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

8 o’clock

The argument has been made but I will make two brief points. Mr. Brendan Boyle, a Congressman from Pennsylvania, spoke on "Morning Ireland" on the day of Mr. Biden's victory. He was asked about Ireland's low corporate tax rate, tax breaks and so forth. He said that is not the main reason they are here. He was questioned quite hard by the "Morning Ireland" team that morning and he said they were not here primarily for that reason but because Irish people are English speaking, there is a skilled and educated workforce and Ireland is part of the European market. Tax is of lesser importance. When he was asked directly whether the multinationals would leave if we increased the tax take from them a little, he said he did not think so. I do not buy the argument that they could not pay a little more than, in some cases, the 1% or 2% they are paying, not the 12.5% they are supposed to be paying.

As important as those executives are, I do not believe they would leave if some of the tax breaks they are getting on their inflated salaries went to the musicians. Musicians have contributed as much culturally, economically and in every other way to the prosperity and richness of our country in the broadest sense as any executive of a multinational company. In fact, they have contributed significantly more.

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