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

I would not claim credit for major international changes in corporate tax. However, until we arrived in the Dáil, nobody was willing to question these things. I speak no word of a lie when I say I was on the finance committee and we asked for Google, Facebook and Apple to come in to the committee to explain their tax affairs and effective tax rate. Not only did the committee vote against it, members insisted the cameras were turned off while we discussed whether they would be invited in. That happened. Deputies can check the record. We were so fearful of questioning how much tax they paid. Popular anger across the world, among NGOs and so on, involving countries and people, including people in this country, forced some change on this and the world has not fallen apart because the effective rate has been pushed up to 15%. I would like to see it go a bit further.

I will finish on hard-working people. Last year's figures show that 2 million workers in this country in total earned €130 billion between them. They paid €27 billion in tax between them. Corporations earned €203 billion and paid €11 billion in tax. Workers earn far less but pay far more; corporations earn far more and pay far less. Is that fair or just? If they do not pay a just amount of tax, where will we get the money for the universities, infrastructure, water and housing that, in the end, they depend on too? They will not come here if we do not have those services.

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