Results 13,241-13,260 of 27,073 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of Ireland’s participation in two European Defence Agency Projects: Motion (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is even worse. What a load of nonsense. The European Union border regime alone is like some sort of horrific nightmare from a dystopian science fiction horror movie in terms of our complicity in the horrors that are going on in Libya. We are involved in training the Libyan coast guard, which, in turn, is deeply implicated in slavery, systematic rape, beatings and torture of...

Nomination of Member of Government: Motion (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am sharing time with Deputy Coppinger. I will keep it brief. I personally wish all of the new appointees well and I hope they will succeed in their briefs. There has been much discussion about people being thrown or not being thrown under buses over the last while. Our concerns are not about the Deputies as politicians or as individuals, whom we may wish well, but about the issues they...

Other Questions: Tax Code (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 9. To ask the Minister for Finance the reasoning behind the decision of the former Minister for Finance in budget 2014 to raise the cap on the capital allowance of tangible assets from 80% to 100%; if he will report on lobbying, submissions, discussions or meetings in relation to this issue prior to it being included in that budget; the minutes, memos and communications with regard to this...

Other Questions: Tax Code (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 12. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will report on all meetings and communications involving his Department officials, himself or his predecessor and a company (details supplied), other large multinational companies or a group in which the issue of corporate tax, intellectual property or intangible assets were discussed in each of the years 2011 to 2016 and to date in 2017; the...

Other Questions: Tax Code (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We are aware that Apple avoided paying €13 billion in tax through the double Irish scheme using Irish registered companies. The Paradise Papers reveal that in 2014 and 2015, changes made by then Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, to the intangible assets allowance enabled Apple and almost certainly other companies to continue to avoid billions of euro in tax, using Irish...

Other Questions: Tax Code (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The change made by the former Minister, Deputy Noonan, in 2014 is a scandal. Séamus Coffey said that had we not made that change, we would have collected €722 million in additional tax in 2015, and presumably there would have been a similar figure in subsequent years. Mr. Coffey said that if one ensured that all claims for this allowance was under the 80% regime, we would have...

Other Questions: Tax Code (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: During the committee hearings that year, it was said that the much trumpeted double Irish would, in fact, be replaced by another scheme through which the same companies would be able to avoid pretty much the same amount of taxes, but in a slightly different way, by speaking about patents and intellectual property rights. That is exactly what happened. The Government was warned about it....

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Universal Social Charge Application (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 19. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to correct the anomaly that sees pre-95 public sector pensioners pay the universal social charge on all their income while all other persons on the State pension are exempt from universal social charge on that portion of their income, resulting in the pre-95 pensioners being worse off than other persons that receive the State pension; and if he...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Paradise Papers. (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 35. To ask the Minister for Finance the actions he plans to take regarding aggressive tax avoidance by large corporations following the revelations of the Paradise Papers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50866/17]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Paradise Papers: Chairman, Office of the Revenue Commissioners (29 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank Mr. Cody for his presentation. I wish to ask about AIB or any financial institution that is using subsidiaries or giving advice on how to use offshore structures to avoid tax. What has Revenue done or what can it do to deal with that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Paradise Papers: Chairman, Office of the Revenue Commissioners (29 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If they do not give the information to Revenue, what do we do then?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Paradise Papers: Chairman, Office of the Revenue Commissioners (29 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Is Mr. Cody satisfied that the new arrangements will allow that to happen?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Paradise Papers: Chairman, Office of the Revenue Commissioners (29 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I had better move on because my time will run out. One of the things the Paradise Papers reveal is that in the case of Apple, following the moves to close down the double Irish at the end of 2013, the intangible assets allowance was increased to 100%. Then it moved some of its subsidiaries based here to Jersey or the Isle of Man. I cannot remember which but it was one of those tax havens....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Paradise Papers: Chairman, Office of the Revenue Commissioners (29 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: In general, then, if it is obvious that an entity is using transfer pricing mechanisms around intellectual property to set the price at which one subsidiary sells something to another subsidiary, exploiting allowances in the tax code to do so, such that there is no additional tax liability and it is clearly a manipulation, is there anything we can do about it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Paradise Papers: Chairman, Office of the Revenue Commissioners (29 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I know that it is a Government decision, but the point I am making is that they can then engineer the price such that they manage the tax liability. Mr. Cody states the arm's length principle applies, but it was explained to me in an email by an anonymous guy working in one of the companies - I will not mentioned the name - that the company literally stated how much money it had made and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Paradise Papers: Chairman, Office of the Revenue Commissioners (29 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Revenue does not make the law.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Paradise Papers: Chairman, Office of the Revenue Commissioners (29 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am out of time and the Chairman is pulling me up, but I wish to ask one last question. I have heard the argument and know that there is truth to it, but I also do not completely buy the argument that there is nothing we can do here. I take the point that ultimately it is politicians, not the Revenue Commissioners, who decide, but if, for example, we had very severe penalties and were...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Paradise Papers: Chairman, Office of the Revenue Commissioners (29 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The distinctions are lost on me.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Paradise Papers: Chairman, Office of the Revenue Commissioners (29 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have so many questions we could talk all night. I will try to ask them quickly so I do not run out of time and perhaps Mr. Cody could do his best to be brief in his replies. I mean no disrespect to him saying that. It is just that I am anxious to get through them. The Revenue Commissioners are still down 600 staff since the cuts and the moratorium started and Mr. Cody is now seeking...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Paradise Papers: Chairman, Office of the Revenue Commissioners (29 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I understand that. I presume the case Mr. Cody would make to us, the public and the Government is that the more people the Revenue Commissioners can recruit and train, the more the Revenue Commissioners could gather-----