Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

If they are not making profits, this recommendation will not affect them. It only applies to profits, so if they are making losses they have absolutely nothing to fear if this recommendation was brought in on Report Stage and if the measure was implemented right now. It would not have any effect because they are not making profits. The very nature of this measure - it was the balancing act sought originally by former Minister, the late Brian Lenihan, who brought it in - is that when they are profitable, they start contributing again. They do not even have to contribute fully as there is even a cushion provided at that point where 50% of their profits would be untaxable. The fact they are making a loss this year, frankly, does not have any relevance. This is an example of why we should be changing the policies this year, because it will not have any impact. However, it will protect us for future years. The Minister of State mentioned the €1.6 billion loss. They made a €2.5 billion profit last year and they paid nothing, except the bank levy, which is a different thing. That was a €2.5 billion profit which could, and should, have been at least partially taxed. We are talking about a corporation tax rate on 50% of the profits. If one was looking at it then, one would really only be looking at 10%. If the profit was 21%, only 10% of their profits would have been meaningfully taxed. It would have been very minor. It would have been a good contribution to the State and it would have helped us.

I am concerned that it seems we are going to double down. Are banks going to pay top rates of tax in Ireland for the next 50 or 100 years? They are still using the previous financial crisis to write off their losses. Are they again going to write off those losses for another period of time, even though again the State took the risk on Covid and stepped up and guaranteed those small loans under the credit guarantee scheme? We have a very large actor in the State which is making very large profits. The profits this year were €2.5 billion. I have talked about one bank, which we know, from the finance committee, is paying very large dividends to parent companies. It is also paying fees to parent companies, so part of that profit is not even captured in that €2.5 billion. The fact is these banks are part of the State. Every other business that took a hit, as many did during the financial crisis, did not get the same protection. I am not proposing to remove that measure for general businesses. Most small businesses that have a few bad years and then try to find their way back to profit do not get bailed out, protected and directly underwritten with a guarantee by the State. I imagine many businesses would have loved have got that. They did not get that but the banks did. Given that the losses the banks experienced were cushioned in a way that losses in other businesses or corporations were not, it is reasonable to ask them to give up a tiny bit of that extra cushioning should they find themselves profitable in the future.