Results 13,261-13,280 of 26,037 for speaker:Kieran O'Donnell

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base: Discussion (25 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: I want to take him up on his use of the term "tax pirates". I take major issue with it and I do not agree with it. The definition of a tax pirate is someone who is roaming effectively on the open seas. Our multinational sector is contributing more than 250,000 jobs in Ireland and many of them are people we represent. They are giving valuable jobs to families and contributing approximately...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base: Discussion (25 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: Apple was a company dealing with the Revenue on the same basis as any other company. The point I make is that to state that Ireland is a tax pirate is grossly inaccurate. Mr. Tang was showboating a bit on the radio this morning. It is not an accurate picture of what we provide here in terms of jobs. I wish to deal with a couple of points to which the witnesses might respond. If the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base: Discussion (25 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: Perhaps Mr. Tang should have taken a trip around Ireland before making his reference to tax piracy this morning.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base: Discussion (25 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: What connection does this have with the common consolidated corporate tax base, CCCTB?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base: Discussion (25 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: There is an ongoing discussion. The stakes are very high for Ireland. Many people are employed up and down the country, and they are a key part of our economic policy. There are issues in individual cases, but the general thrust of our policy is that we have a very open, transparent system. Our economic policy for many generations has been based around foreign direct investment coming in,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base: Discussion (25 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: Is it the case that Mr. Tang is qualifying his position on the comments he made this morning?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base: Discussion (25 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: Is it better to deal with the matters Mr. Tang has raised on a global level? BEPS and the OECD do that, in terms of the transfer pricing. This is purely an internal European solution. If a company comes to Ireland and is investing billions in terms of assets, employing thousands of people, surely that is a normal commercial activity in a world economy? That is not tax piracy. I agree...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base: Discussion (25 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: It could make us uncompetitive within Europe.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base: Discussion (25 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: Where does it make its cars?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base: Discussion (25 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: I have a brief comment. I cannot let that go unchecked.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base: Discussion (25 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: It was up to successive French Governments to change the tax law in France if they so wished. It is their sovereign right. The witness cleverly mentioned Apple but it employs 6,000 people in Cork and it is an enormous employer in Ireland. The case is under appeal. The throwaway remark from the witness is not necessarily correct. The digital tax platform is under discussion in Europe but...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base: Discussion (25 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: That is healthy for a political system.

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Second Stage (24 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: I welcome the Minister of State. I wish to speak about this issue because I support the thrust of the Bill. Senator Máire Devine is right - it affects people across the spectrum, including students, males and females, young and old. Why do we tip in restaurants? I will define "restaurant" as both a restaurant and a pub, as pubs now usually serve food. We are more inclined to give a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: I welcome Mr. Byrne and his colleagues. I wish to clarify a number of points. In Mr. Byrne's presentation on how the bank responded, he said:[T]he difficulty was compounded by limited legacy IT systems and operational failures in AIB and EBS when it merged with AIB in 2011. The systems did not record the bank's proper commitments and obligations to its customers. Did that relate to both...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: So, effectively, it related to both banks.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: There is an element of "the dog ate my homework". It is an incredibly large institution. How many solicitors are employed in AIB? Typically, how many are employed in-house?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: Mr. Byrne is saying that someone looking in-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: I have no doubt there were still 50, 60 or 70.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: Either way, I know from dealing with the banks over the years that no one is more conversant in the detail of a contract than a bank. I do not buy that argument. I do not buy that the bank did not have a record of the commitments and obligations of the banks. If the banks were enforcing them with customers, they would have them in chapter and verse. It has echoes of "the dog ate my...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Kieran O'Donnell: We need to clarify with the Central Bank whether the figure we were provided with, which was 33,700, includes the 4,900 - the 4,000 customers, which was the cohort getting a voucher for €1,000, and the 9,00 customers who will receive redress and compensation. If that is the case, the 4,000 and the 900, which adds up to 4,900, is a higher figure than the total number of customers that...