The Taoiseach should offer change to this corporate tax rule to help our negotiating position at the EU Council meeting on Debt and Stimulus issues.

At the EU Council meeting tomorrow, the Taoiseach needs to get new stimulus funds for Ireland and to prepare the way for a reduction in our debt burden. He will have a stronger hand if he shows that we are willing to also change our ways on corporate taxation. The "Double Irish" tax arrangement⁽¹⁾ allows American multinational companies use a subsidiary company in Bermuda or the Cayman Islands so that their Irish company pays only a fraction of the 12.5% corporate tax rate they are meant to pay here. This morning, Minister of State Lucinda Creighton said the Government came under pressure from our EU partners to include changes to our corporate tax rate in the Fiscal Compact Treaty negotiations. That issue is going to come back at the same time that we are looking to get a reduction in our debt and greater access to new stimulus funding.

Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan said today: "The Taoiseach will have a better negotiating hand at the European Council meeting tomorrow if he shows he is willing to change one of the worst aspects of our tax laws. The 'Double Irish' tax dodge is a scandal and it is time for it to go. There is no defence for the fact that companies like Google pay only 2.5% on the massive profits that they make here⁽²⁾. Changing the laws would increase our tax take and should be supported by the EU and the US administrations who are publically opposed to such 'brass plate' tax scams."

"The risk of a company pulling investment out of the country should be minimal because it is hard to see how they would justify a practice which shows a lack of any corporate social responsibility," concluded Eamon Ryan.

⁽¹⁾ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_arrangement