Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Quite a few Senators have mentioned the GDP figures, but by the Department's own admission it is a distorted figure. We are talking about approximately 20% of the 26.3% being down to multinationals and inversion deals.It accounts for a huge part of the GDP figures. Many of these companies are locating in Ireland because of the low corporation tax rate. We need to think outside the box and perhaps consider the introduction of a small tax on the turnover of such companies, from some of which the tax return is very small. Many companies, particularly in the aviation industry, are manipulating the figures and buying stocks and so on to avoid paying tax in their home countries. Perhaps we might look at the introduction of such a tax to benefit the State's finances.