Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The example given was about wanting to ensure regulatory compliance and so forth. It is good the Minister has clarified that is not the case. There are people who are able to fulfil these functions. The competitive market that was mentioned, involving other banks that do not employ many people in the State but are somehow based here, may relate to a different discussion we need to have in terms of the regulation of the financial sector in Ireland.

The core point is the suggestion that we are asking in these recommendations that banks pay tax in a different way. We are not asking for that. We have many different targeted tax relief and tax expenditure schemes with lots of different conditions around eligibility. They do not all apply to everybody in all circumstances. I am proposing that there be a constraint in respect of the deferred tax assets scheme. To be clear, the proposal is not for a special rate of tax for banks. It is about eligibility for the deferred tax asset scheme and the application of that scheme. It is a scheme that needs overhauling in general but there is a specific concern in this regard.

Many of the arguments the Minister gave about banks giving loans, employing people and all of that are arguments against the banks ever paying tax because, as the Minister says, they do such important work. The fact is banks will always give loans, take deposits and have employees. If we start using that logic as a reason not to pay tax, we are on a slippery slope. In fact, the intention in regard to many of the banks is that they will not pay tax. Permanent TSB estimates it will not pay tax until 2038. AIB predicts it will not do so until 2037. We are looking at a period when they will not pay tax. With absolute respect to the Minister, given many banks have left the market and others have closed branches, there is a concern as to the question of loyalty. If we had been gathering revenue for the State in the recent period, there would have been other opportunities for the State to invest, to employ and, indeed, to look at other parts of our banking system, including things like Postbank and the credit unions, which might merit more support.

There is a blind spot regarding deferred assets. We have talked about signals. Sending a signal to the public that the banks do not pay tax is a very concerning one for us to continue to send.