Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I note the Minister of State indicated that Ireland supports the Lithuanian approach whereby each State would have a register of this type of information. It is crucial that any such register be public. He also indicated that the chairperson of the Revenue Commissioners stated that information, especially third party information, is the lifeblood of tax administration. Access to such information should not be confined to the shareholders of a company or people with an interest in it who can apply for a court order to obtain details about a company. The register must be made publicly available in order that any person with an interest in a company, for example, an individual who has heard that issues may have arisen in respect of a company, is in a position to obtain information about the company. Access to such information should not be limited to public officials or shareholders of the company. Any member of the public should be able to obtain such information. This is the best approach and the basis on which Revenue operates in many other areas. The same approach should be adopted in this area.

The only argument the Minister of State provided for not establishing such a register is the administrative burden that would arise from such a register. As I stated, the issue I raise does not affect the vast majority of companies and is confined to companies which have highly complicated structures, most of which are large multinational companies. Given the burdens placed on companies, I do not accept the argument that providing information on beneficial owners would add an unnecessary burden. The benefits in terms of transparency would be much greater.

This is a serious issue because developing countries are frequently deprived of resources as a result of corruption in the awarding of contracts and so forth. In many cases, it is difficult to ascertain which company benefits from the contracts. In addition, issues such as money laundering and the financing of terrorist organisations also arise. The benefits of a register far outweigh the administrative burden it would create. I ask that the Minister for Finance review the position because the Lithuanian approach, which is supported by Ireland according to the Minister of State, does not go far enough. I hope Ireland will be a world leader in this matter and take action ahead of the European Union, as Britain and France have done, rather than being dragged into accepting it.

The Minister of State indicated that Ireland has argued that it should be up to individual countries to decide how to proceed in their own jurisdiction. We have seen the problems this approach creates in respect of other aspects of taxation where one ends up in a race to the bottom. Let us put this approach behind us and instead lead the way on transparency and fairness in taxation systems internationally.