Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Bill is technical in nature. Its primary aim is to amend sections of the Patents Act 1992 to allow for the introduction of a substantive examination of patient applications and facilitate the issuing of long-term patents, with a certification scheme for the knowledge development box which will allow small companies to qualify. Once certified, SMEs involved in research activities will be able to avail of a reduced corporation tax rate of 6.25%. As explained in the Bill, an SME is a company with no more than 250 employees, intellectual property assets of less than €7.5 million and global turnover of less than €50 million. We have to measure this description against that of very small community businesses that are crippled by rates, rents and various taxes, practically none of which they can avoid or on none of which they can get deals.

My party believes it is well past time for an honest debate on corporation tax. In the past my party's finance spokesperson, Deputy Pearse Doherty, dared to mention the name of a particular company, Apple, but he was shouted down by Fine Gael Deputies, including the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Dara Murphy. That is the level of maturity this and previous Governments have shown when it comes to a discussion about our corporation tax regime. That this remains the position, even in the face of the recent EU ruling against Apple, is simply not good enough. Sinn Féin supports having an open, transparent and competitive all-Ireland corporation tax rate which does not allow-----